Not long ago, the new park, bay view campus, which took years to design and build by Google, was finally officially opened Located next to NASA Ames Research Center and Moffett airport, the Bay View Park covers a total area of 42 acres (about 170000 square meters), half of which is open space. The remaining space includes two office buildings, an auditorium and a parking + temporary residential building for employees.
Bay View Park and Charleston East Park, which is closer to the old park and will be opened soon, belong to Google's largest real estate development project in the park in recent years. The appearance style is consistent with the design concept, emphasizing the characteristics of ecological affinity, positive impact on the environment and efficient use of natural resources.
Picture of Bay View Park source: Google
Yesterday, silicon star people also came to wanjingyuan district to show you
Get off from 398 Moffet Blvd of 101 Expressway and drive for about a minute to the Bay View Park. The first thing to see is the smaller "Bay View 200".
Bay View 200 photo source: Du Chen | silicon star man
I heard before that the roads here are narrow, and due to the large number of Google employees, there are serious traffic jams in the morning and evening rush hours. Google employees can see a lot of empty parking spaces at noon, but there is also a lot of empty parking space for people to ride through the silicon star on Thursday.
This is because the Bay View Park is actually separated from Google's CL and shorbird parks by only one stream (Steven's Creek), which is not far from the old park Googleplex. In addition, during the construction of the new park, Google also renovated the bridge across the stream, so that employees can ride bicycles or walk between the parks.
Original image source: Google
Since we are visiting the park, we must first find the most representative landmark: Google LOGO!
However, the big logo of the new park is not in the place facing the street, but behind the "building 3" (bvg3). After a long time, I finally found it:
Photo source: Du Chen, silicon star man
Standing next to the logo, we also happened to enjoy the panorama of the Bay View 100 in the bay view area:
Photo source: Du Chen, silicon star man
The buildings of the two new parks, bay view and Charleston East, are independently designed by Google's real estate development team. Of course, the process also includes external partners
Thomas Heatherwick, the joint design director, said that the building design of the new park was inspired by the steel frame keel structure of the two hangars of Moffett Airport:
Design concept drawing of Moffett airport hangar 1 (left) and Bay View Park (right) image source: Google
Picture of keel on the roof of Bay View Park source: Google
Source: Google
The purpose of this sail + hollow design of the Bay View Park building is to retain and use natural light and natural air flow to the greatest extent.
David Radcliffe, vice president of real estate and office services of Google, said that the buildings in the Bay View Park adopt the design concept of "ecological affinity". Hollowed out windows at different levels are mechanically controlled. Ventilation can be turned on to ensure that every "platform" and "grid" employee in the building has an angle and can enjoy natural light at any time of the day** (the meaning of platform and grid will be introduced later)
Not only that, the building also realized 100% outdoor air use in the ventilation system, while in the past, the use rate of outdoor air in ordinary office buildings was generally only 20-30%.
Source: Google
Photo source: Du Chen, silicon star man
According to public information, the combined use space of the two office buildings is 110000 square feet (about 102000 square meters), but the above ground office area is only two floors - it can be said that it is "flat" like Google's organizational structure.
You should know that the former Silicon Valley technology companies advocated the design of integrated, super large and open office space. Everyone works under the same roof, and the boundary between public space and private space is not obvious (a typical case is early Facebook).
This time, through Bay View and Charleston East Park, Google redesigned the workspace organization method mentioned earlier, which has long been accepted by many technology practitioners
Source: Google
Specifically, meeting rooms, meeting halls, spacious walkways, open spaces, and various "public spaces" in the usual sense are all on the first floor.
The second floor is only used as the real office of the team. There is not much public space, but more space is reserved for the team and employees.
The office space on the second floor is designed according to the needs of each team. Each team will get its own "Plateau".
Specifically, the perceptual distinction between platforms is made by means of height difference, indoor plants, obstacles and so on (but there is no particularly obvious physical separation).
Each platform is customized in advance according to the specific needs of the team. This is because before the design and construction, the design team has interviewed different teams to understand their different organizational structures and working habits, so that these different situations can be taken into account when designing the platform for them.
Teams have different ways of organizing and working habits, and have different needs for workspace. Image source: Google
At the same time, the team can still continue to customize within its own platform. To this end, Google also provides many layout props in the new park, which can be accessed by team members.
For example, for example, a project team has obtained a space that allows four people to work. In the project discussion stage, it needs a lot of collaborative discussion and can be arranged as a shared space; After the discussion and entering the implementation stage, employees need a quiet, relatively independent and undisturbed space to write code for a long time, so they can rearrange:
*As a result, each team's own space is different from that of other teams, and the internal design of the space is not invariable. The whole office space has become a kind of "living building) * - which also reflects the bionic concept mentioned by Google in the design.
Next to the main building, I saw a small pond. Out of the office, you can walk to the water in less than a minute - I thought, this garden design is also great:
Photo source: Du Chen, silicon star man
Looking closer, I found that the construction of this small pool and the surrounding greening are not exquisite. But later, I found that I completely misunderstood.
This small pool is not a garden design at all, but a rainwater reservoir, which plays a very important role in the utilization of water resources and the protection of natural water bodies in the whole park
As the Bay View Park is directly located next to San Francisco Bay, the harmonious coexistence with local water resources has become a key element in the design process. Therefore, Google designers and local ecological and water resources experts have worked together to design a water treatment system covering the whole park, which can collect and treat rainwater and domestic wastewater from the roof of buildings and the surface of the whole park, and then reuse it.
The following figure shows the roof of the main building. In fact, under the "dragon scale" shaped photovoltaic panel, there are pipes to collect rainwater. These pipe networks can transport water to subsequent reservoirs for further use.
Photo source: Du Chen, silicon star man
Schematic diagram of roof drainage and wastewater collection pipe network of buildings in the park picture source: Google
This small pond is actually one of the reservoirs in the park. Behind it, Google also plans an ecological protection area that can release excess water, which is not used for office, but for nature to use its magic.
At the same time, under the building where the park parking building is located, Google has also built a central treatment plant to treat various resources, including rainwater / wastewater, and transport them back to the building for reuse.
As a result, the Bay View Park has become the first super large office building in the whole science and technology industry to realize net water positive , which means that the water reused in the park + returned to the surrounding Ecology (generally clean) is greater than the water it consumes**
Previously, Google has set a goal to achieve 120% positive water resources benefits in global office locations by 2030, and wanjingyuan district is the first stage of this ambitious goal.
In addition to the water circulation system with ultra-high reuse rate, Google also claims that the geothermal temperature regulation system in the Bay View Park is the largest known geothermal project in North America, which can effectively regulate the temperature in the office area, maintain stable and comfortable office temperature and moderate throughout the year, and reduce the use of cooling water by 90%.
Source: Google
Combining photovoltaic system, geothermal system and highly flexible lighting and ventilation system, the whole Bay View Park has achieved full power, positive benefits of water resources and zero pollution (even positive impact on the surrounding environment)**
See more photos taken by the silicon star man:
The area between Building 1 and building 2 is only allowed for employees and is closed to the outside. In addition, employees need to show work cards and vaccination certificates before they can work in the park.
There are many birds nesting on the lampshade under the eaves of Building 1. A Google security guard said that he has not decided what to do with it. I think the lighting system should be removed and redesigned, and then leave special space for birds who want to nest.
Isolation barriers are set around the park to ensure that large animals will not enter the park by mistake and that employees will not fall into the wetland and cannot climb out.
Building 3, that is, the auditorium of Wan Jingyuan district. Google uses the building as a venue for large-scale activities and press conferences within the company.
An outdoor venue where employees can have party activities
Cars are completely prohibited in the park, and the road planning allows walking and cycling
Parking building
Shuttle bus between Bay View Park and Sunnyvale Park
The wake of the plane glows with the buildings in the park. The green reflected from the eaves comes from the surrounding green landscape
How about seeing such a cool new Google park? Are you excited? Especially Google employee friends, don't you want to work at home all of a sudden:)
With regard to bay view and Charleston East Park, Google has also specially published a book "pathways" (the same name as Google's latest AI Architecture), which refers to a large number of ideas, design, development and construction details, as well as the feelings of project participants, especially the thinking of coexistence with the natural environment.