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| The Googleplex, Google headquarters. |
The Googleplex is the corporate headquarters complex of Google, Inc., located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California, near San Jose. The name Googleplex is a play on words, being a portmanteau of Google and complex, and a reference to googolplex, the name given to the large number 1010100, or 10googol. The original 1979 coinage (as Googleplex Starthinker) is from the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The four core buildings, totaling (47,038 m²), were built for and originally occupied by Silicon Graphics (SGI). The office space and corporate campus is located within a larger 26-acre (110,000 m2) site that contains Charleston Park, a 5-acre (20,000 m2) public park; improved access to Permanente Creek; and public trails that connect the corporate site to Shoreline Park and the Bay Trail. The project, launched in 1994 to reclaim a former industrial brownfield, was a creative collaboration between SGI, STUDIOS Architecture in San Francisco, SWA Group of San Francisco and Sausalito, 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 in 1999 that the SGI project was a significant departure from typical corporate campuses, challenging conventional thinking about private and public space.
The former SGI facilities were leased by Google beginning in 2003.[2] In June 2006, Google purchased some of Silicon Graphics' properties, including the Googleplex, for $319 million.[3][4]
Since the buildings are of relatively low height, the complex covers a large area. 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. The facilities include a gym (Building 40), free laundry rooms (Buildings 40 and 42), two small swimming pools, a sand volleyball court, and eleven cafeterias of diverse selection. Google has also installed replicas of SpaceShipOne and a dinosaur skeleton.
In late 2006 and early 2007 the company installed a series of solar panels, capable of producing 1.6 megawatts of electricity. At the time, it was believed to be the largest corporate installation in the United States. About 30 percent of the Googleplex's electricity needs will be fulfilled by this project, with the remainder being purchased. About one third of the panels will be in the form of "solar trees" mounted on poles above parking lots, with the remainder placed on rooftops. The solar panel project went online on 18 June 2007. As of 21 June 2007 Google has installed over 90% of the 9,212 solar panels that comprise the 1.6 megawatt project.
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(This photos from EROS HOAGLAND / REDUX FOR TIME /time.com)
