A one million square foot plan for Google campus

Google is planning a one million square foot campus in Sunnyvale, California, which will aim to connect the 4500 employees working there with the natural environment.

A collaboration between architects Bjarke Ingels Group and landscape architects Olin, the design for what will be know as Caribbean involves twin hillsides which rise from a surrounding park. A green pathway zigzags up their inclined roofs, with the space below housing the thousands of workers.

A render of the proposed Google campus in Sunnyvale, California.

Staff will be encouraged to use the ramped roof to walk, cycle and rollerblade between levels,  promoting activity and maximising accessible space.

Glass walls will fill the gaps between the pathways, and there will be access points to this outdoor space at various levels of the building, with café and dining spaces having the ability to spill outdoors.

Google workers will be encouraged to use the green ramps to get from floor to floor.

Both visually and in reality, the roof will be an extension of the surrounding park, and Google envisages that in the future the development will become a mixed-use space, with employees both working and living in the area.  

The impressive scale of the site will also allow for 2085 parking spaces, both in a garage and outdoors.

Google is aiming to make this project highly sustainable, with a LEED gold rating, native, low-water landscaping, and integrated transport. The company says it wants to reduce “cars on the road by prioritising biking, shuttles, public transport and more.”

By creatively using roof space to add more green to Google’s latest project, landscape architects Olin have managed to literally place employees within the natural environment without widening the land footprint of the development.

If approved, the campus is set to open around 2021.

Google wants it's planned campus to be highly sustainable.