Googleplex Central Courtyard
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The Googleplex is the
corporate headquarters Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corporate headqu ...
complex of
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
. It is located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in
Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...
. The original complex, with of office space, is the company's second largest square footage assemblage of Google buildings, after Google's
111 Eighth Avenue 111 Eighth Avenue, also known as the Google Building and formerly known as Union Inland Terminal #1 and the Port Authority Building, is an Art Deco multi-use building in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Fifteen stories t ...
building in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, which the company bought in 2010. "Googleplex" is a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
of ''
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
'' and ''complex'' (meaning a complex of
building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...
s) and a reference to ''
googolplex A googolplex is the large number 10, or equivalently, 10 or . Written out in ordinary decimal notation, it is 1 followed by 10100 zeroes; that is, a 1 followed by a googol of zeroes. Its prime factorization is 2 ×5. History In 1920, ...
'', the name given to the large number 1010100, or 10googol.


Facilities and history


The original campus


SGI campus

The site was previously occupied by
Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...
(SGI). The office space and corporate campus is located within a larger site that contains Charleston Park, a 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). It was a creative collaboration between SGI, StUDIOS Architecture, SWA Group, and the Planning and Community Development Agency of the City of
Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...
. 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
American Society of Landscape Architects The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. ...
(ASLA) noted that the SGI project was a significant departure from typical corporate campuses and which challenged conventional thinking about private and public space, and awarded the project the ASLA Centennial Medallion in 1999.


Google campus

The former SGI facilities were leased by Google beginning in 2003. A redesign of the interiors was completed by
Clive Wilkinson Clive Wilkinson (born 1954, Cape Town, South Africa) is an architect and interior designer. Acknowledged as a pioneer in workplace design by thIIDA Wilkinson is perhaps best known for designing the interior of one of the buildings in the Googlepl ...
Architects in 2005. In June 2006, Google purchased some of Silicon Graphics's properties, including the Googleplex, for $319 million. Because 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 and 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 bowling alley, massage rooms, organic gardens, and eighteen cafeterias with diverse menus. Google installed replicas of
SpaceShipOne SpaceShipOne is an experimental air launch, air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to / using a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "Feathering (reentry), feathering" atmosph ...
and a dinosaur skeleton. Since 2017, solar panels cover the rooftops of eight buildings and two solar carports, 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 for 30% of the peak electricity demand in their solar-powered buildings. Four 100 kW Bloom Energy Servers were shipped to Google in July 2008, as the first customer of Bloom Energy. The Android lawn statues were outside of Building 44 on Charleston Road, and were relocated on the Google campus at 1981 Landings Drive. They 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

In 2013, construction began on a new campus dubbed "Bay View", adjoining the original campus on leased from the
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...
and overlooking
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...
at
Moffett Federal Airfield Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, United States, between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale. On November ...
. The estimated cost of the project was $120 million with a target opening date of 2015.
NBBJ NBBJ is an American global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Boston, Columbus, London, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Pune, San Francisco, Seattle and Shanghai. NBBJ provides services in architecture, interiors, planning ...
was the architect and this was the first time Google has designed its own buildings. The addition is off the northeast corner of the complex, by the Stevens Creek Nature Study Area and Shoreline Park. Before announcing the construction, Google, through its internal real estate firm, Planetary Ventures, sought permission from the City of Mountain View to build bridges over the adjacent Stevens Creek. Google's 2012 year-end annual report noted it can develop only of the site. Google planned in 2015 a addition designed by
Heatherwick Studio Thomas Alexander Heatherwick, (born 17 February 1970) is an English designer and the founder of London-based design practice Heatherwick Studio. He works with a team of more than 200 architects, designers and entrepreneurs from his studio in ...
and
Bjarke Ingels Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels (; born 2 October 1974) is a Danish architect, founder and creative partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). In Denmark, Ingels became well known after designing two housing complexes in Ørestad: VM Houses and Mountain Dwe ...
in North Bayshore. 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.


Google Visitor Experience

In September 2023, Google announced the Google Visitor Experience, a visitor center next to the Googleplex which occupies the building formerly known as Charleston East, and now known as Gradient Canopy. The visitor center includes a
Google Store Google Store is a hardware retail store operated by Google that sells Google Pixel devices, Google Nest products, Chromecast dongles, Fitbit devices, and accessories such as earbuds, phone cases, chargers, and keyboards. It also sold Nexus, ...
, a public plaza, a café, and public art, and opened on October 12, 2023.


Location

The Googleplex is located between Charleston Road, Amphitheatre Parkway, and Shoreline Boulevard in north
Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...
, close to the Shoreline Park
wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
. Employees living in San Francisco, the East Bay, or South Bay may take a free
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...
-enabled Google shuttle to and from work. The shuttles are powered by a fuel blend of 95% petroleum diesel and 5%
biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...
and are equipped with emissions reduction technology. To the north lies the
Shoreline Amphitheatre Shoreline Amphitheatre is an outdoor amphitheater located in Mountain View, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The venue has a capacity of 22,500, with 6,500 reserved seats and 16,000 general admission on the lawn. When the parking lot ...
and
Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American multinational business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparati ...
, and to the south lies
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
's
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
research complex, the
Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a computer museum in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the Information Age, and explores the Digital Revolution, computing revolution and its impact ...
, and Century Theatres.
Moffett Field Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, United States, between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale. On November ...
is nearby to the east. File:Googleplex restaurant.jpg, This restaurant is at Googleplex. File:Google Bicycle.JPG, Bicycles are used by employees at Googleplex.


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. Google has another large campus in Mountain View dubbed "The Quad" at 399 North Whisman Road about from the Googleplex. 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. The semi-secret Google X Lab, which is the development lab for items such as
Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a discontinued brand of smart glasses developed by Google's X Development (formerly Google X), with a mission of producing a ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using a head-u ...
, is located in "ordinary two-story red-brick buildings" about 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."


In popular culture

The Googleplex is featured in the 2013 film '' The Internship'', with the
Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...
campus standing in as a double, because Google disallows filming on the campus grounds for privacy reasons. It was the inspiration for the fictional Hooli headquarters in the HBO TV series ''
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
''.


References


External links


Life in the Googleplex 2006 Photo Essay
from ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine
Googleplex East: Inside Google's New York City Headquarters
, from ''
Information Week ''InformationWeek'' is a digital magazine which conducts corresponding face-to-face events, virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United State ...
'' *
Biking around Googleplex
on
Kinomap Kinomap is an interactive training app for indoor cycling, rowing and running that enables individuals to find and share geolocated videos. The Kinomap platform is available in 15 languages, has 370,000 miles of geolocated routes and more t ...
* Andrew Norman Wilson's Viral Vide
"Workers Leaving the Googleplex"
{{Portal bar, Internet, San Francisco Bay Area, 1990s 1997 establishments in California Buildings and structures in Mountain View, California Corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley Google buildings and structures Information technology company headquarters in the United States Multi-building developments in the United States Office buildings completed in 1997 Office buildings in California