In a changed world you might not expect a tech giant to build and open a brand new campus for its employees, but Google has. The newly opened Bay View headquarters was designed by Google and runs fully on electric.
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Believe it or not, it has been almost ten years since Google originally unveiled the plans for its new HQ. The company designed the new headquarters themselves, and it looks very different to its previous campus (or any other Silicon Valley building, for that matter). The roof is its most distinctive feature, called a “dragonscale skin” design.
It is made up of 90,000 silver solar panels capable of generating almost seven megawatts of energy, or up to 40 percent of the new offices’ energy needs. The rest of the energy needed to power the facility will come from wind farms nearby. The campus has automated window shades to let a lot of natural lighting in during the day and a ventilation system that uses 100 percent outside air.
Furthermore, the campus houses the largest geothermal installation in North America that will help heat and cool the campus without the use of fossil fuels. According to Google it also uses 90 percent less water in its cooling systems. This geothermal pile system uses pumps to absorb heat from the ground during wintertime and to send heat into the ground in the summer.
Google has recently transitioned to a hybrid work model, requiring employees to work at the office a couple of times per week. It is a trend we’re seeing in most companies now, reverting back to at least some hybrid work format.
Are you back at the office, still fully remote or on a hybrid model at work? Let us know in the comments down below.
