Video and gallery: Google’s new Silicon Valley headquarters

Google may be having second thoughts about the design of its new London offices, but it is rather less reticent about that of its new Silicon Valley headquarters. It plans to transform a 2.5 million square foot site in the Californian city of Mountain View into a home for around 10,000 workers. The pastoral setting has been designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Engels and incorporates parkland dotted with glass buildings including some Eden Project like geodesic domes. Unsurprisingly the campus buildings have been designed to achieve a LEED platinum accreditation and cars are largely discouraged from the site. Heatherwick has described the plans as humanistic and the plans include a number of community facilities including a new public safety building, two new parks, an educational science centre and even a residential development on neighbouring land.

[embedplusvideo height=”367″ width=”600″ editlink=”https://bit.ly/1zBjZ6v” standard=”https://www.youtube.com/v/z3v4rIG8kQA?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=z3v4rIG8kQA&width=600&height=367&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep4243″ /] Google also proposes that the site will incorporate a world class bike path network which will extend into the neighbouring areas of the city of Mountain View. “What we’ve tried to do is take a step back and say, ‘How do buildings work with nature?'” said Google real estate director David Radcliffe in an announcement.  We really want to try and make spaces open and accessible so it’s not just for Googlers but anybody that wants to come by.”