The Googleplex is the
corporate headquarters
Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with important tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corpo ...
complex of
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
and its parent company,
Alphabet Inc
Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and became the parent company of Google and s ...
. It is located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in
Mountain View, California
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376.
Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is th ...
.
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 building in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, which the company bought in 2010.
"Googleplex" is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...](_blank)
'' and ''complex'' (meaning a complex of
building
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...
s) and a reference to ''
googolplex'', the name given to the
large number 10
(10100), or 10
googol
A googol is the large number 10100. In decimal notation, it is written as the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeroes: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, ...
.
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. 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
ASLA noted that the SGI project was a significant departure from typical corporate campuses, challenging conventional thinking about private and public space and awarded the project the ASLA Centennial Medallion in 1999.
Architecture was the architect for the original SGI campus and provided both interior architecture and base building design.
Google campus
The former SGI facilities were leased by Google beginning in 2003. A redesign of the interiors was completed by
Clive Wilkinson Architects in 2005.
In June 2006, Google purchased some of Silicon Graphics' properties, including the Googleplex, for $319 million.
Since 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. 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, and eighteen cafeterias with diverse menus. Google has also installed replicas of
SpaceShipOne
SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (900 m/s, 3240 km/h), using a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique " feathering" ...
and a dinosaur skeleton.
Since 2007 the site has featured a series of solar panels covering the rooftops of eight buildings and two solar carports, and 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 needed for 30% of the peak electricity demand in their solar-powered buildings.
Four 100
kW Bloom Energy Server
The Bloom Energy Server or Bloom Box is a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power generator made by Bloom Energy, of Sunnyvale, California, that takes a variety of input fuels, including liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons produced from biological sources ...
s were shipped to Google in July 2008, making Google the first customer of Bloom Energy.
The
Android lawn statues (previously outside of Building 44 on Charleston Road), are now located on the Google campus at 1981 Landings Drive (at ), and include a giant green statue of the
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
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 agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
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) labora ...
and overlooking
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay 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 big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, California, San Jose, and Oakland, Ca ...
at
Moffett Federal Airfield. The estimated cost of the project was $120 million with a target opening date of 2015.
NBBJ was the architect and this was the first time Google has designed its own buildings rather than moving into buildings occupied by previous businesses.
The addition is off the northeast corner of the complex, by the Stevens Creek Nature Study Area/
Shoreline Park. Before announcing the construction, Google, through its in-house 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 and
Bjarke Ingels 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.
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. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376.
Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is th ...
close to the
Shoreline Park wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free ( anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
. 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 local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...
-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 form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat ( tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil ...
and have the latest 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 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 preparation application Tu ...
, and to the south lies
Microsoft Corporation's Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as 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 areas San Mateo Count ...
research complex, the
Computer History Museum
The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a museum of computer history, located in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age, and explores the 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 10, ...
lies nearby to the east.
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 N 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.
In addition, the secret
Google X Lab, which is the development lab for items such as
Google Glass
Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses developed and sold by Google. It was developed by X (previously Google X), with the mission of producing an ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using ...
, 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 was featured in the 2013 film ''
The Internship'', with the
Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...
campus standing in as a double, because Google doesn't allow filming on the campus grounds for privacy reasons. It was also the inspiration for the fictional Hooli headquarters in the HBO TV series ''
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as 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 areas San Mateo Count ...
''.
See also
*
Android lawn statues
*''Planet Google'' (book)
*''The Internship'' (2013 film)
References
External links
Life in the Googleplex 2006 Photo Essayfrom ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' 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 state in the Western United States, located alo ...
''
*
Biking around Googleplexon
Kinomap
*
Andrew Norman Wilson's Viral Vide
"Workers Leaving the Googleplex"
{{San Jose and Silicon Valley attractions
1997 establishments in California
Buildings and structures in Mountain View, California
Corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley
Google real estate
Information technology company headquarters in the United States
Multi-building developments in the United States
Office buildings completed in 1997
Office buildings in California