Apple headquarters are moving into a Silicon Valley headquarters building that looks like a spaceship. Facebook is expanding its campus with a new building designed by Frank Gehry. Now it’s Google’s turn; BIG and Heatherwick Studio are collaborating on a new headquarters building for Google in Mountain View, California.

Vía to the New York Times, the pair are working on "a series of canopy-like buildings" for the search giant, which has not been made public the location, but the project have been discussed with members of Mountain View City Council.

Representatives from both Heatherwick Studio in London and BIG's office in Copenhagen have confirmed their involvement in the project.

Both studios are well-known for their architecture and design. Heatherwick Studio, a London design firm known for works like the fiery caldron at the 2012 Olympics or projects including a new border, new pier in New York's Hudson River, while BIG's portfolio features a combined the Lego House project, and the underground Danish Maritime Museum, between the 5 Finalists of the 2015 MIES Award.

The move follows in the footsteps of fellow Silicon Valley companies Apple and Facebook – both of which are working with high-profile architects on their new office complexes. Foster + Partners is behind Apple's huge ring-shaped headquarters underway in Cupertino, while Facebook enlisted Frank Gehry for its new campus on the edge of San Francisco Bay.

However, Leonard M. Siegel, a 66-year-old environmental activist who was recently elected to the Mountain View City Council said.- “Everyone else wishes they were in our situation, but it’s a crisis for the people here.”

When Google moved here in 1999, it had a dozen employees and a search engine known only to computer aficionados. Now, its 20,000 local employees make it the biggest employer in a city that is bursting at the seams.

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Thomas Heatherwick established in 1994, Heatherwick Studio recognised for its work in architecture, urban infrastructure, sculpture, design and strategic thinking. Today a team of 180, including architects, designers and makers, works from a combined studio and workshop in Kings Cross, London.

At the heart of the studio’s work is a profound commitment to finding innovative design solutions, with a dedication to artistic thinking and the latent potential of materials and craftsmanship. This is achieved through a working methodology of collaborative rational inquiry, undertaken in a spirit of curiosity and experimentation.

In the twenty years of its existence, Heatherwick Studio has worked in many countries, with a wide range of commissioners and in a variety of regulatory environments. Through this experience, the studio has acquired a high level of expertise in the design and realisation of unusual projects, with a particular focus on the large scale.

The studio’s work includes a number of nationally significant projects for the UK, including the award-winning UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the Olympic Cauldron for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and the New Bus for London.

Thomas is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects; a Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria & Albert Museum; and has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Royal College of Art, University of Dundee, University of Brighton, Sheffield Hallam University and University of Manchester.

He has won the Prince Philip Designers Prize, and, in 2004, was the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry. In 2010, Thomas was awarded the RIBA’s Lubetkin Prize and the London Design Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to design.

In 2013 Thomas was awarded a CBE for his services to the design industry.

 

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Bjarke Ingels (born in Copenhagen, in 1974) studied architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and the School of Architecture of Barcelona, ​​obtaining his degree as an architect in 1998. He is the founder of the BIG architecture studio - (Bjarke Ingels Group), a studio founded in 2005, after co-founding PLOT Architects in 2001 with his former partner Julien de Smedt, whom he met while working at the prestigious OMA studio in Rotterdam.

Bjarke has designed and completed award-winning buildings worldwide, and currently, his studio is based with venues in Copenhagen and New York. His projects include The Mountain, a residential complex in Copenhagen, and the innovative Danish Maritime Museum in Elsinore.

With the PLOT study, he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2004, and with BIG he has received numerous awards such as the ULI Award for Excellence in 2009. Other prizes are the Culture Prize of the Crown Prince of Denmark in 2011; Along with his architectural practice, Bjarke has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University and Rice University and is an honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen.

In 2018, Bjarke received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog granted by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. He is a frequent public speaker and continues to give lectures at places such as TED, WIRED, AMCHAM, 10 Downing Street or the World Economic Forum. In 2018, Bjarke was appointed Chief Architectural Advisor by WeWork to advise and develop the design vision and language of the company for buildings, campuses and neighborhoods around the world.

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Published on: February 25, 2015
Cite: "Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels to design Google's new California HQ" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/thomas-heatherwick-and-bjarke-ingels-design-googles-new-california-hq> ISSN 1139-6415
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