Google's plans for their new London HQ are the most epically Google yet
Unsurprisingly, Google is thinking big.
After a long delay, the company has submitted plans for its proposed King's Cross Campus in London, the first wholly owned and designed Google building outside the U.S.
The massive 11-story building will comprise 1 million square feet — longer than the Shard building is tall — and has been designed by Heatherwick Studio and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
Combined with Google's current spot at 6 Pancras Square, near King's Cross railway station, and a third location the company is planning in the area, this new building creates a Google campus with the potential to house 7,000 employees.
The £1bn headquarters will feature a three-lane 25m pool, a 32m multi-use games area, a gym, and a 300m landscaped roof garden, as well as shops and a sprawling events centre for product launches, talks, and presentations.
"By opening up the ground floor and activating the roofscape, the light and airy workspaces are sandwiched between the terraced gardens on the roof — and market halls, auditoria and shops on the ground," Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner at Bjarke Ingels Group, said.
The building will also provide giant moving blinds, which will rotate 180 degrees to reduce glare on staff as the sun moves during the day.
"The area is a fascinating collision of diverse building types and spaces, and I can't help but love this mix of massive railway stations, roads, canals, and other infrastructure all layered up into the most connected point in London," Thomas Heatherwick, Founder of Heatherwick Studio, said in a statement.
“Influenced by these surroundings, we have treated this new building for Google like a piece of infrastructure too, made from a family of interchangeable elements which ensure that the building and its workspace will stay flexible for years to come.”
Topics Google
