Google's officially pitching a (new, expensive) tent in Mountain View
Google's not going to let Apple get all the new, shiny campus glory in Silicon Valley. On Tuesday, the City of Mountain View gave the tech giant the go-ahead to begin construction on its newest building, its tent-like Charleston East building.
Plans have been in the works for a while now but Google has finally gotten approval to build the new structure, projected to cover 595,000 square feet with a height of 110 feet, after undergoing various tweaks over the years. Ground will be broken in April with completion expected in 2019.
The plans call for the removal of nearly 200 trees from the building site, which covers 18.6 acres, but, per Business Insider, Google will plant new trees and incorporate plenty of green space into the finished project. Its ground floor will also be open to the public in an attempt to assimilate with the surrounding community (which is already dominated by Google buildings).
Sustainability is a big focus, according to the official plans, with attention being paid to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and making sure the new building isn't a deathtrap for birds (unlike, say, that new fancy glass-encased Minnesota Vikings football stadium).
The new building will be built on the eastern side of Charleston Park, in the middle of the rest of its sprawling campus. It's also a bit of catch-up with other Silicon Valley behemoths. Facebook moved into its giant new HQ in March 2015 and Apple is preparing to occupy its new magnificent spaceship campus.
Check out more renderings and blueprints for the project below.
Topics Google
Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
