Google’s new Boulder campus is a highly crafted response to its local context, its materiality linking it to the Boulder setting. Nature is at the heart of the campus, offering uplifting, restorative and healthy environments inside and out. Building C, the third addition to the campus, connects to existing Buildings A and B via a stacked bridge for a combined 300,000 SF of workspace. The design team for Building C was tasked both with designing the core and shell architecture as well as the nearly 100,000 SF of interior space. Building C would be Google’s first company-owned, ground-up project in their entire North American portfolio. The tech giant envisioned an exciting new workspace that would convey a new, more mature approach to their office interiors while still relating to the two previous buildings.

Given the campus’s vast square footage, the design team set forth to develop a story that would connect Building C’s interior environment to Colorado’s magnificent natural landscape. They envisioned each level as layers of ecosystems, creating unique environments on each repeating floor. Concepts of Colorado’s outdoor activities were employed for wayfinding, creating a connecting network of ‘trails’ throughout the office spaces. These would serve as circulation paths connecting Google’s predominant open office program with an array of outdoor-themed amenities, meeting spaces and a mix of social and individual work settings.

To balance Google’s high security requirements, alongside the need for the majority of the office space to accommodate quiet, focused thinking, circulation is designed to connect these ‘focus spaces’ and communal spaces with buffers of meeting rooms between them. This created opportunities for small ‘eddies’ – quiet breakout spots off the main circulation paths mimicking the flow of water from high currents down to small pools. The circulation allows employees the opportunity to discover the building’s many robust amenities – micro kitchens, a 4th level café, outdoor terraces, small breakout spaces and one of the building’s most unique features, a highly visible 3-story climbing wall. The design successfully links social spaces together to create activity hubs while keeping open workstation areas protected from noise and commotion.

Throughout the building, the materials, imagery and room naming were all meant to evoke Colorado’s outdoor lifestyle. Highlighting Colorado as the main concept fulfilled Google’s goal of being uniquely local and reflective of their Boulder culture.