Google announces new site for Mountain View HQ by Heatherwick and BIG

We've been following the developments of Google's new Mountain View headquarters for some time.

After Google's original site was nixed by city council members, cutting the tech giant down to about one-quarter of the land they had requested, it was uncertain what would become of the sprawling design for the new Googleplex. Now, Google has announced that it will use another plot of land it is already leasing, just east of the existing headquarters, for a modified version of the design by Heatherwick Studio and BIG.

Despite the problems with the original site, Heatherwick Studio confirmed that they, along with BIG, will be in charge of the latest design. The new complex, comprising a huge greenhouse and indoor cycling track, along with other luxuries, will be sheltered beneath translucent canopies and will occupy just one lot covering 48,000 square meters-a much smaller chunk of land compared to the company’s original expectations.

The new site is a 18.6-acre (7.5 hectare) tract of land located just east of the company’s current headquarters, on the opposite side of Charleston Park in Mountain View. Google has leased it since 2007, before the city’s introduction of strict limits on office expansion, but hasn’t done anything with it despite having permission to build 595,000 square feet (55,000 square metres) of office and commercial space.

In order to build a campus as big as envisioned in the initial design, Google would still have to acquire more than a million square feet (93,000 square meters). The company has filed an appeal which could bring them back one of the smallest of its rejected sites.