The approval of the Mountain View city councilpaves paves the way for to Google Charleston East campus, designed by a team of Heatherwick Studios, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), and Hargreaves Jones Landscape Architecture, which expects to complete construction by 2019.
The recent city council approval is only the first step in a long line of public approvals that the development will need to clear before becoming a reality. The massive project will still need to face further rounds of public approval before being finalized.
Besides bringing 3.6 million square feet of office space and the aforementioned residential buildings to the North Bayshore neighborhood, Google and other outside developers will be allowed to construct a high-density, mixed-use neighborhood in an area stymied by a lack of new housing.
Renderings show designs for a building with an elaborate tent-like structure, with rooms will be divided up into rectilinear “pavilions” all sheltered beneath the roof of great canopy, whose the external envelope of the building is formed by a sequence of canopies of power generating photovoltaic panels like giant tent fabric.
The majority of the building’s facilities – including laboratories, cafes, offices and events spaces – will be at ground level, while offices will be raised up on a mezzanine level above.
The second floor will hold Google office space, and both areas will be peppered with interior courtyards designed to act as cores for socializing. It’s not yet clear how the newly-formed neighborhoods will link with the company’s peaked office space. Images Courtesy of Heatherwick Studios.