Google Unveils Design for New Headquarters in London (GOOG, AAPL)

Alphabet Inc. (GOOG
Alphabet Inc
GOOG
975.60
+0.90%
) subsidiary Google yesterday unveiled the design for its new headquarters in London, England. The Mountain View, California-based company's new campus, which is designed by noted architects Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels, will have 11 storeys, occupy 1 million square feet of space and house 7,000 employees in the heart of London, near the famous King's Cross station. The London facility will be Google's second wholly owned building after its Mountain View campus. The building will be called the "landscraper" (because of its length) and will incorporate a cafe, gym and a rooftop track as well as retail spaces on the ground floor.
"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," the architects responsible for the design stated. "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," added Heatherwick. (See also: The 4 Most Expensive Company Campuses.)
Construction on the structure will begin in 2018 if the proposed design is approved. Google is the latest tech behemoth to crystallize its ambitions into an architectural structure. As tech companies emerge at the vanguard of a new business paradigm, they are building offices that are indicative of their ambitions and a work ethos that combines their employees’ professional and personal lives. (See also: Amazon Doubles Down on Post-Brexit Britain.)
Last month, Apple Inc. (AAPL
Apple Inc
AAPL
155.45
+1.48%
) began moving its employees to its new headquarters. Built at a cost of $5 billion, the structure, which is called Apple Park, is shaped like the wheel of an iPod. Facebook Inc's (FB
Facebook Inc
FB
153.61
+1.37%
) offices in Silicon Valley and New York City have been designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry and feature the largest open-floor plan in the world. Salesforce.com Inc's (CRM
Salesforce.com Inc
CRM
90.86
+0.90%
) new headquarters is expected to be the tallest building on the West Coast when construction finishes later this year. (See also: Apple's New Campus Revealed.)


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