Inside Silicon Valley's finest workspaces

Apple: Nicknamed the ‘Spaceship Campus’ for its colossal ring-shaped structure, Apple’s forthcoming headquarters by Norman Foster is destined to be one of Silicon Valley’s largest and most ambitious tech campuses yet.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Apple)

By Jessica Klingelfuss

last updated 20 October 2022

in Features

You’d be hard-pressed to find a cubicle in a typical Silicon Valley office. Dropbox has Lego and a music room (complete with a grand piano), Airbnb has its green living wall and War Room, Twitter has foosball tables and yoga studios, and Github has its speakeasy and Oval Office replica.

But it’s not just child’s play, as evidenced by the growing number of Silicon Valley companies enlisting architecture's biggest names to dream up workspaces that match the titanic creative ambitions of its employees.

Facebook, for example, opened its new Menlo Park headquarters earlier this year: a 430,000 sq ft space designed by Frank Gehry, and billed as the largest open plan office in the world. The building is topped with a nine-acre green roof, with a walking trail and plenty of places where employees are encouraged to work, while taking advantage of California’s pleasant climate.

Elsewhere in the Valley, Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs personally tapped Norman Foster for the tech giant’s new campus, currently in the works on a staggering 2.8 million sq ft site. Once complete, it will house up to 13,000 employees in a colossal ring-shaped structure - that’s since been dubbed the ‘Spaceship Campus’ - surrounding a vast outdoor park.

Not to be outdone, Google has turned to two high-profile names for its forthcoming Mountain View campus: British designer Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels of Danish firm BIG. In a radical shift from immoveable concrete buildings, the company will create a modular campus using ‘lightweight block-like structures’. The flexible site will be capped with large, translucent canopies that control the interior climate while letting in light and air, and will house boast shops, restaurants, cafés and bike paths.

These workplaces become autonomous communities in themselves, where practically every need, desire and whim of staff are catered for (does anyone actually ever leave the Google campus, or its free, gourmet cafeteria for that matter?). It’s these utopic environments that fuel the creativity behind some of the most memorable and game-changing products today.

From start-ups to Goliaths, there’s no shortage of tech offices that encourage a healthy balance of work and play. Here, we take a tour of the finest workspaces in Silicon Valley.

Samsung: Completed this September, Samsung’s new North American headquarters by NBBJ is the latest addition to Silicon Valley’s top crop of workspaces. Situated on the corner of a prominent street in San Jose’s tech hub, the project comprises two adjacent 10-story towers unified by an outer skin and connected by a series of bridges.

**Samsung:** The office’s open plan and floor-to-ceiling windows allow Samsung employees to see each other, even when they are on different floors.

**Samsung:** The building offers a wide diversity in types of work environments – from the cafeteria to the outdoor seating areas and conference zones along the courtyard.

**Google:** Internet giant Google has turned to two high-profile names for its forthcoming Mountain View campus: British designer Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).

Immoveable concrete buildings — **Google:** In a radical shift from immoveable concrete buildings, the company will create a modular campus using ‘lightweight block-like structures’.

The interior climate — **Google:** The flexible site will be capped with large, translucent canopies that control the interior climate while letting in light and air, and will also have shops, restaurants, cafés and bike paths.

Software company — **Autodesk:** 3D design software company Autodesk enlisted Gensler for its One Market campus in San Francisco. *Courtesy of Gensler.*

Locally sourced furniture — **Autodesk:** Opened in November 2014, the 35,000 sq ft space features a palette of white and charcoal, peppered with bright splashes of colour, locally sourced furniture and stained concrete floors. *Courtesy of Gensler.*

The core of building — **Autodesk:** Multiple ‘community tunnels’ are carved through the core of building, transforming corridors and passageways into useful, productive spaces. *Courtesy of Gensler.*

The largest open plan office in the world

Facebook: Completed in April this year, Facebook’s Frank Gehry-designed HQ covers a sprawling 430,000 sq ft and is the largest open plan office in the world. Transparency is key here, where employees can almost all the way down the building, in an environment that fosters open communication and collaboration.

A nine-acre green space — **Facebook:** The roof, meanwhile, boasts a nine-acre green space, complete with a half-mile walking trail.

Uber: Silicon Valley’s go-to design firm Studio O+A - which counts Facebook, Yelp, AOL and Evernote among its clients – conceived taxi app Uber’s elegant space, notable for its subdued palette (unusual for most tech firms) and rich materials palette (think onyx glass, oxidised maple, copper and marble).

Meeting space — **Uber:** The finish choices on this project reflect both branches of Uber’s two-tiered service. For instance Uber X, the economy car alternative, is expressed in raw concrete floors, raw steel and the Polygal walls of an impromptu meeting space.

The space — **Uber:** But by far the most striking feature of the space is the ‘God view’ wall – a montage of wall-mounted interactive screens, which maps every car in every city that Uber serves – from Montreal to Mumbai, Paris to Panama City.

Glass campus — **Uber (forthcoming):** But in San Francisco, architecture moves almost as quickly as technology. To wit, Uber has just announced plans for a 423,000 sq ft, glass campus, designed by SHoP Architects in collaboration with Studio O+A.

**Uber (forthcoming):** The project will include an 11-storey tower, connected to an adjoining six-storey building with a diaphanous façade.

**Cisco:** The panoramic view of San Francisco’s waterfront set the tone for Cisco’s offices, completed in summer of 2013 and designed by Studio O+A.

**Cisco:** Floor-to-ceiling windows bathe the 110,000 sq ft office is bathed in plenty of natural light. In spite of its size, the complex still feels intimate.

Cisco: Sunken seating preserves long sightlines; yurts, cabanas and phone rooms offer privacy; and informal lounges encourage colleagues to socialise with each other. Furniture by Herman Miller, Knoll and Artek and lighting by Muuto, Flos and Lindsey Adelman complete the vibrant space.

Skype: The company sought to conceive a top-notch office that would allow it compete for the best talent Silicon Valley had to offer. According to its designers, local firm Blitz, the distinct spaces facilitate three different types of working: collaboration, contemplation and concentration, brought to life by a simple palette and restrained use of finishes.

**Dropbox:** 'If cubicles are the suburbs then our approach to Dropbox HQ is downtown,' explained Boor Bridges Architecture, who teamed up with Geremia Interior Design for the file hosting service’s China Basin offices, completed in spring 2012

Dropbox: Geremia Design adds, ‘The creation of office lounges were an important part of our design’, while a collaboration with a local designer led to the creation of innovative LED lighting in the office, rather than the traditional fluorescent lights found in most workspaces

New headquarters — **Nvidia:** Gensler’s San Francisco office is responsible for Nvidia’s new headquarters, a 500,000 sq ft triangular ‘mother ship’.

Corporate buildings — **Nvidia:** It’s a reflection of Silicon Valley’s recent shift away from staid corporate buildings. To wit, Gensler’s proposal inspired by the logic of chip design.

The city’s wholesale furniture mart — **Twitter:** Located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, Twitter’s urban campus is set in an iconic 1937 Art Deco building that once housed the city’s wholesale furniture mart.

**Twitter:** IA Interior Architects joined forces with Lundberg Design to create the space, which is subtly infused with Twitter’s signature blue, natural wood and a reoccurring twig motif.

**Twitter:** A vast cafeteria serves up an enviable menu (and Kombucha tea on tap), and opens up onto a half-acre rooftop garden overlooking the city.

The raw industrial space — **Twitter:** The architects opted for a slick palette of concrete, wood and marble in the raw industrial space, underpinned with dark tones.

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