Google Bay View – The Basilica of IT

IT giants advertise with promises of the future – to make life better and easier, to make the world more equitable, or to avert climate catastrophe through digital intelligence. In their universe, work, leisure, high-tech, and nature are all mutually compatible. No recent corporate architecture has embodied this philosophy as convincingly as the Google Bay View Campus by BIG and Heatherwick Studio. The 17 hectare complex includes two office buildings, an event centre for 1000 people, and 240 employee apartments.
The high amounts of energy ­required to power the 100 000 m² of usable space will be generated mainly by 50 000 newly developed solar panels covering the three buildings’ roof surfaces like the scales of a pangolin. North America’s largest geothermal pile system to date is integrated into the foundations of the tensile roof structure’s slender supports, some up to 40 m high. The ­system will provide carbon-­free heat and, importantly, cooling. The roofs are designed to channel rainwater into storage lakes; paired with the on-site water treatment plant, the campus will provide 120 % more water than it uses.

Another video about the Google Bay View project can be found here.

Read more in Detail 10.2022 and in our databank Detail Inspiration.