Take a Peek at Google’s Future Digs

Google has come a long way from the early days inside Susan Wojcicki’s garage. Now, after nearly a decade, the Googleplex is getting another big upgrade.

The Mountain View, California-based company is planning a major expansion of its offices with the help of an outside architectural firm, NBBJ. But unlike the company’s existing offices — which were once home to another large outfit, Silicon Graphics — Google is building for the first time an entirely new office park from scratch.

As Google’s civil engineering overseer told Vanity Fair, the 1.1-million-square-foot complex won’t differ greatly from the company’s existing workspaces — internally, at least. After Google’s researchers collected data from its workers on how its new facilities should look, many Google mainstays proved popular enough to show up in the new campus design: Public communal workspaces, buildings full of cafes and a casual, open atmosphere. And of course, green, green, green.

To be sure, Google isn’t the only one working on a new campus. Facebook currently has a major expansion project under way, planning a massive, Frank Gehry-designed new section to its Menlo Park campus, which will house another 3400 employees. And of course, Apple is working on building another Cupertino campus that looks like something straight out of “2001: A Space Odyssey.

Google said it has already begun construction on the new campus addition, which will rest on a 42-acre stretch of land owned by NASA Ames Research Park.