Googleplex

The Googleplex is the corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc. It is located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California.

This article is about the headquarters of Google. For the large number, see Googolplex. For the abandoned Google initiative, see Plex (Google).
Googleplex
BuiltJuly 2004 (2004-07)
LocationMountain View, California, United States
Coordinates37.422°N 122.084°W / 37.422; -122.084
Address1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

The original complex, with 2 million square feet (190,000 square meters) of office space, is the company's second largest square footage assemblage of Google buildings, after Google's 111 Eighth Avenue building in New York City, which the company bought in 2010.

"Googleplex" is a portmanteau of Google and complex (meaning a complex of buildings) and a reference to googolplex, the name given to the large number 1010100, or 10googol.

Facilities and history
The south side of the Googleplex, circa 2006 (This view was blocked a year later by a new line of shade trees.)
Former entrance to the lobby of Building 40

SGI Campus

The site was previously occupied by Silicon Graphics (SGI). The office space and corporate campus is located within a larger 26-acre (11-hectare) site that contains Charleston Park, a 5-acre (2-hectare) public park; improved access to Permanente Creek; and public roads that connect the corporate site to Shoreline Park and the Bay Trail. The project, launched in 1994, was built on the site of one of the few working farms in the area and was city owned at the time (identified as "Farmer's Field" in the planning documents).[1][2] It was a creative collaboration between SGI, StUDIOS Architecture, SWA Group, and the Planning and Community Development Agency of the City of Mountain View. The objective was to develop in complementary fashion the privately owned corporate headquarters and adjoining public greenspace. Key design decisions placed parking for nearly 2000 cars underground, enabling SWA to integrate the two open spaces with water features, shallow pools, fountains, pathways, and plazas. The project was completed in 1997. The ASLA noted that the SGI project was a significant departure from typical corporate campuses, challenging conventional thinking about private and public space and awarded the project the ASLA Centennial Medallion in 1999.[3]

Architecture was the architect for the original SGI campus and provided both interior architecture and base building design.

Google campus
A Google campus area down Charleston Road from the Googleplex

The former SGI facilities were leased by Google beginning in 2003.[4] A redesign of the interiors was completed by Clive Wilkinson Architects in 2005. In June 2006, Google purchased some of Silicon Graphics' properties, including the Googleplex, for $319 million.[5][6]

Since the buildings are of relatively low height, the complex sprawls out over a large area of land. The interior of the headquarters is furnished with items like shade lamps and giant rubber balls. The lobby contains a piano and a projection of current live Google search queries. Facilities include free laundry rooms (Buildings 40, 42 & CL3), two small swimming pools, multiple sand volleyball courts,a bowing alley, massage rooms, organic gardens and eighteen cafeterias with diverse menus. Google has also installed replicas of SpaceShipOne and a dinosaur skeleton.[7][8]

Since 2007, the site has featured a series of solar panels covering the rooftops of eight buildings and two solar carports, and capable of producing 1.6 megawatts of electricity. At the time of installation, Google believed it to be the largest in the United States among corporations. The panels provide the power needed for 30% of the peak electricity demand in their solar-powered buildings.[9] Four 100kW Bloom Energy Servers were shipped to Google in July 2008, making Google the first customer of Bloom Energy.[10][11]

The Android lawn statues (previously outside of Building 44 on Charleston Road), are now located on the Google campus at 1981 Landings Drive (at 37.4184135°N 122.0879531°W / 37.4184135; -122.0879531), and include a giant green statue of the Android logo and additional statues to represent all the versions of the Android operating system.

Bay View addition
Google buildings near Shoreline Park
Googleplex courtyard

In 2013, construction began on a new 1.1-million-square-foot (100,000-square-meter) campus dubbed "Bay View", adjoining the original campus on 42 acres (17 ha) leased from the NASA Ames Research Center and overlooking San Francisco Bay at Moffett Federal Airfield. The estimated cost of the project was $120 million with a target opening date of 2015.[12][13][14]

NBBJ was the architect and this was the first time Google has designed its own buildings rather than moving into buildings occupied by previous businesses.[15]

The addition is off the northeast corner of the complex, by the Stevens Creek Nature Study Area/Shoreline Park. Before announcing the construction, Google, through its in-house real estate firm, Planetary Ventures, sought permission from the city of Mountain View to build bridges over the adjacent Stevens Creek.[16] Google's 2012 year-end annual report noted it can develop only 7 acres (2.8 ha) of the 42-acre (17-hectare) site.[17]

Google planned in 2015 a 60-acre (24-hectare) addition designed by Heatherwick Studio and Bjarke Ingels in North Bayshore.[18] The site, however, was granted to LinkedIn by the city councilors and the Google project was revised in 2016, with 3 buildings to be built on 2 different sites east of Googleplex in Mountain View; one immediately next to Googleplex and the two smaller ones a few blocks away.[19]

Google Visitor Experience

In September 2023, Google announced the Google Visitor Experience, a visitor center situated next to the Googleplex which occupied the building formerly known as Charleston East, and now known as Gradient Canopy. The visitor's center includes a brick-and-mortar Google Store, a public plaza, a café, public art, and more, and opened on October 12, 2023.[20]

Location
A restaurant at Googleplex
Bicycle used[21] by employees on Googleplex

The Googleplex is located between Charleston Road, Amphitheatre Parkway, and Shoreline Boulevard in north Mountain View, California close to the Shoreline Park wetlands. Employees living in San Francisco, the East Bay, or South Bay may take a free Wi-Fi-enabled Google shuttle to and from work. The shuttles are powered by a fuel blend of 95% petroleum diesel and 5% biodiesel and have the latest emissions reduction technology.[22][23]

To the north lies the Shoreline Amphitheatre and Intuit, and to the south lies Microsoft Corporation's Silicon Valley research complex, the Computer History Museum, and Century Theatres. Moffett Field lies nearby to the east.

Other Google Mountain View locations

Google in its 2012-year-end annual report said it had 3.5 million square feet of office space in Mountain View.[17]

Google has another large campus in Mountain View dubbed "The Quad" at 399 N Whisman Road about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the Googleplex.[24]

In 2013, Google leased the entire Mayfield Mall, an enclosed shopping mall that last operated in 1984 and was leased by Hewlett-Packard from 1986 to 2002.[25]

In addition, the secret Google X Lab, which is the development lab for items such as Google Glass, is located in "ordinary two-story red-brick buildings" about 1⁄2 mile (800 meters) from the Googleplex. It has a "burbling fountain out front and rows of company-issued bikes, which employees use to shuttle to the main campus."[26]

The Googleplex was featured in the 2013 film The Internship, with the Georgia Tech campus standing in as a double, because Google doesn't allow filming on the campus grounds for privacy reasons.[27] It was also the inspiration for the fictional Hooli headquarters in the HBO TV series Silicon Valley.[28]

References
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  3. "Medallion Sites" (PDF). American Society of Landscape Architects. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  4. Olsen, Stefanie (July 13, 2003). "Google's movin' on up with Sujeet Kumar and Manohar Patti". CNET News.com. CNET Networks, Inc. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2007.
  5. Mills, Elinor (January 19, 2006). "Google buying its Mountain View, Calif., property". CNET News.com. CNET Networks, Inc. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2007.
  6. Conrad, Katherine (June 14, 2006). "Google to purchase Mountain View buildings". San Jose Mercury News. AccessMyLibrary. Archived from the original on January 12, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
  7. Weinberg, Nathan (November 8, 2007). "Yes, Google Has The Dinosaur". google.blognewschannel.com. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  8. Mohney, Chris (February 6, 2007). "25 things to see at the Googleplex before you die". Valleywag. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on September 25, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  9. "Reducing our Footprint". Archived from the original on November 20, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010. In Mountain View, CA, for example, we currently have a 1.6-megawatt solar power system that generates 30% of the peak power necessary to fuel the buildings on which they are located.
  10. "NASA Technology Comes to Earth | Bloom Energy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
  11. "Bloom Energy Revealed on 60 Minutes! : Greentech Media". Archived from the original on 2010-02-25. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
  12. "Google announce lease at Ames Research Center" (PDF). www.nasa.gov. NASA. June 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  13. Letzing, John (February 22, 2013). "Google Starting Construction on New Campus - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  14. Goldberger, Paul (22 February 2013). "Exclusive Preview: Google's New Built-from-Scratch Googleplex". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on May 30, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  15. Russell, James S. (April 24, 2013). "Google's New Campus Has Light, Fresh Air, Low Power Use". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on May 31, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  16. "Error". Archived from the original on 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  17. "Form 10-K". Sec.gov. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  18. Stone, Brad (May 7, 2015). "Big and Weird: The Architectural Genius of Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  19. Cogley, Bridget (27 August 2019). "Roof completes on Heatherwick and BIG's Google HQ". dezeen. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  20. Li, Abner (September 7, 2023). "'Google Visitor Experience' opening in Mountain View with Store, cafe, and more". 9to5Google. Archived from the original on September 8, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  21. Kelly, Caitlin (April 28, 2012). "Google Course Asks Employees to Take a Deep Breath". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  22. Spivack, Cari (September 13, 2004). "Worth the drive". Official Google Blog. Google, Inc. Archived from the original on November 13, 2006. Retrieved January 4, 2007.
  23. "Campus operations -- A closer look". Google, Inc. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  24. O'Dell, Jolie (May 17, 2011). "Google To Open New Campus in Mountain View". Mashable.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  25. "Google to Rent Former Mall in Largest Silicon Valley Deal". Bloomberg. September 11, 2013. Archived from the original on September 14, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  26. Stone, Brad (May 22, 2013). "Inside Google's Secret Lab". Businessweek. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  27. Jessica Guynn and Dawn C. Chmielewski (May 25, 2013). "The Internship, now starring ... Google". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  28. Donato-Weinstein, Nathan (April 17, 2014). "How HBO captured the look of 'Silicon Valley' tech office spaces". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Archived from the original on April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
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