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Sober look of Google's 'landscraper' shows tech firm is trying to grow up Sober look of Google's 'landscraper' shows tech firm is trying to grow up
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Plans for Google’s new London headquarters have been shrouded in secrecy and awaited with baited breath since the internet giant ditched its original architects in 2015 for being “too boring”. Plans for Google’s new London headquarters have been shrouded in secrecy and awaited with bated breath since the internet giant ditched its original architects in 2015 for being “too boring”. But the proposals for the £1bn project finally unveiled this week have considerably cranked down the wow factor.
But the proposals for the £1bn project finally unveiled this week have considerably cranked down the wow factor. Stretching for over 300 metres along the side of the railway tracks of King’s Cross, the 1 million sq ft (92,000 m2) “landscraper” office building is a surprisingly sober design from the studios of Thomas Heatherwick and Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, the starry duo who are also working together on Google’s Californian headquarters in Mountain View.
Stretching for over 300 metres along the side of the railway tracks of King’s Cross, the 1 million sq ft (92,000 m2) “landscraper” office building is a surprisingly sober design to emerge from the studios of Thomas Heatherwick and Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, the starry duo who are also working together on Google’s Californian headquarters in Mountain View.
Having built international reputations for projects that often defy the logic of both gravity and common sense, the pair were an obvious choice for a tech company that prides itself on reinventing everything it turns its hand to. But, while in California they are conjuring a sci-fi vision of freeform pavilions arranged beneath a big undulating metal tent , their London project sports the polite generic costume of any other corporate office block. Eschewing the tech campus trend for increasingly wacky architecture, it appears Google may be trying to grow up.Having built international reputations for projects that often defy the logic of both gravity and common sense, the pair were an obvious choice for a tech company that prides itself on reinventing everything it turns its hand to. But, while in California they are conjuring a sci-fi vision of freeform pavilions arranged beneath a big undulating metal tent , their London project sports the polite generic costume of any other corporate office block. Eschewing the tech campus trend for increasingly wacky architecture, it appears Google may be trying to grow up.
The earlier scheme, designed by AHMM in 2013, featured an elaborate climbing wall and bike ramp running the full height of the building, so Googlers could climb or cycle to their desks. Such novelties have now been banished and replaced by a simple wooden staircase that runs the full length of the building, conceived as an “internal promenade” where employees can meet and meander. The plan for jaunty cladding painted in Google’s brand colours has also been swapped for a sleek, muted dressing of timber fins and curving bronzed panels, a palette that has more the whiff of a luxury apartment scheme or a swanky hotel complex. The earlier scheme, designed by AHMM in 2013, featured an elaborate climbing wall and bike ramp running the full height of the building, so that Googlers could climb or cycle to their desks. Such novelties have now been banished and replaced with a simple wooden staircase that runs the length of the building, conceived as an “internal promenade” where employees can meet and meander. The plan for jaunty cladding painted in Google’s brand colours has also been swapped for a sleek, muted dressing of timber fins and curving bronzed panels, a palette that has more the whiff of a luxury apartment scheme or a swanky hotel complex.
That’s not surprising when you find out what’s inside. A 25-metre swimming pool, massage rooms, basketball court and nap pods await the 7,000 Google employees who could eventually be housed here, brought together from offices currently spread across King’s Cross, Covent Garden and Victoria. That’s not surprising when you see what’s inside. A 25-metre swimming pool, massage rooms, basketball court and nap pods await the 7,000 Google employees who could eventually be housed here, brought together from offices currently spread across King’s Cross, Covent Garden and Victoria.
Recycling elements from his aborted garden bridge plans, Heatherwick proposes crowning the building with a rolling garden, where outdoor “rooms” will be divided by planting and groups of long benches and stools will “support collaboration” al fresco, while a 200-metre “trim trail” loops around this rooftop meadow, encouraging the Google culture of walking meetings. Recycling elements from his aborted garden bridge plans, Heatherwick proposes crowning the building with a rolling garden, where outdoor “rooms” will be divided by planting and groups of long benches, and stools will “support collaboration” alfresco, while a 200-metre “trim trail” loops around this rooftop meadow, encouraging the Google culture of walking meetings.
Inside, the open-plan office floors are broken up with “pause areas”, trees and planted walls designed to protrude out on to the facade in places, a green garnish to emphasise the company’s environmental credentials. The landscaping elements are all being designed by Gillespies, the firm behind the notorious Walkie Talkie “sky garden” in London, which didn’t quite live up to the promise of a rooftop jungle.Inside, the open-plan office floors are broken up with “pause areas”, trees and planted walls designed to protrude out on to the facade in places, a green garnish to emphasise the company’s environmental credentials. The landscaping elements are all being designed by Gillespies, the firm behind the notorious Walkie Talkie “sky garden” in London, which didn’t quite live up to the promise of a rooftop jungle.
Heatherwick, who has lived and worked in King’s Cross for more than 15 years and designed the Coal Drops Yard shopping arcade under construction nearby, says the project is a response to the richly layered context of “massive railway stations, roads, canals and other infrastructure”. Heatherwick, who has lived and worked in King’s Cross for more than 15 years and designed the Coal Drops Yard shopping arcade under construction nearby, says the project is a response to the richly layered context of “massive railway stations, roads, canals and other infrastructure”. “Influenced by these surroundings, we have treated this new building for Google like a piece of infrastructure too,” he says, “made from a family of interchangeable elements which ensure that the building and its workspace will stay flexible for years to come.”
“Influenced by these surroundings, we have treated this new building for Google like a piece of infrastructure too,” he says, “made from a family of interchangeable elements which ensure that the building and its workspace will stay flexible for years to come”. Three primary concrete floor decks provide the support for lighter timber floors hung between them, arranged to provide a series of single-, double- and triple-height workspaces with a “warehouse” quality. Ingels says the “continuously cascading work environments” will connect Googlers across multiple floors, “sandwiched between the terraced gardens on the roof and market halls, auditoria and shops on the ground”.
Three primary concrete floor decks provide the support for lighter-weight timber floors hung between them, arranged to provide a series of single, double and triple-height workspaces with a “warehouse” quality. Ingels says the “continuously cascading work environments” will connect Googlers across multiple floors, “sandwiched between the terraced gardens on the roof and market halls, auditoria and shops on the ground”. Rising from seven to 11 storeys, the gargantuan landscraper (imagine the Shard lying down) will sit atop a row of shops and restaurants, providing the much needed retail revenue to help pay for it all.
Rising from seven to 11 storeys, the gargantuan landscraper (imagine the Shard lying down) will sit atop a row of shops and restaurants, providing the much-needed retail revenue to help pay for it all.
It’s a tricky site – long, thin and sitting on top of a stepped concrete box that covers a sloping access ramp for the railway – and the designers have done a decent, if unremarkable, job of reconciling the constraints. But a look at the planning application reveals that the executive architect of the project is neither Heatherwick Studio nor Ingels’ practice BIG, but BDP – a corporate giant that has been several times shortlisted for the Carbuncle Cup for the country’s ugliest building.It’s a tricky site – long, thin and sitting on top of a stepped concrete box that covers a sloping access ramp for the railway – and the designers have done a decent, if unremarkable, job of reconciling the constraints. But a look at the planning application reveals that the executive architect of the project is neither Heatherwick Studio nor Ingels’ practice BIG, but BDP – a corporate giant that has been several times shortlisted for the Carbuncle Cup for the country’s ugliest building.
From the details provided in the drawings, there is little reason to believe the finished product will rise much beyond their usual standards, nor much evidence of how Heatherwick and Ingels’ role extends further than being the signature stylists to lubricate the project through the system.From the details provided in the drawings, there is little reason to believe the finished product will rise much beyond their usual standards, nor much evidence of how Heatherwick and Ingels’ role extends further than being the signature stylists to lubricate the project through the system.