Googleplex

The Googleplex is the company headquarters for Google, Inc., located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California, near San Jose. The name Googleplex is a play on words, being a blend of "Google" and "complex", and a reference to "googolplex", the name given to the large number 10^googol.

Facilities and history

The four core buildings, totaling 506,317 ft² (47,038 m²), were built for and originally occupied by Silicon Graphics (SGI). The office space and corporate campus is located within a larger 26 acre site that contains Charleston Park, a five-acre public park; improved access to Permanente Creek; and public trails that connect the corporate site to Shoreline Park and the Bay Trail. The project, launched in 1994 to reclaim a former industrial brownfield, was a creative collaboration between SGI, STUDIOS Architecture in San Francisco, SWA Group of San Francisco and Sausalito, and the Planning and Community Development Agency of the City of Mountain View. The objective was to develop in complementary fashion the privately-owned corporate headquarters and adjoining public greenspace. Key design decisions placed parking for nearly 2000 cars underground, enabling SWA to integrate the two open spaces with water features, shallow pools, fountains, pathways, and plazas. The project was completed in 1997.

The campus’ landscape design was judged as one of the most significant of the century by the American Society of Landscape Architects in bestowing its ASLA Centennial Medallion in 1999, followed by the ASLA Centennial Award in 2000, and the ASLA National Honor Award in 2001.

The ASLA noted in 1999 that the SGI project was a significant departure from typical corporate campuses, challenging conventional thinking about private and public space.

The former SGI facilities were leased by Google beginning in 2003. [cite news
first=Stefanie
last=Olsen
title=Google's movin' on up with Sujeet Kumar and Manohar Patti
url=http://news.com.com/Googles+movin+on+up/2110-1032_3-1025111.html
work=CNET News.com
publisher=CNET Networks, Inc.
date=2003-07-13
accessdate=2007-01-04 ] In June 2006, Google purchased some of Silicon Graphics' properties, including the Googleplex, for $319 million. [cite news
first=Elinor
last=Mills
title=Google buying its Mountain View, Calif., property
url=http://news.com.com/2061-10812_3-6083899.html
work=CNET News.com
publisher=CNET Networks, Inc.
date=2006-06-14
accessdate=2007-01-04 ] [ [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15621514_ITM Google to purchase Mountain View buildings] ]

Although the buildings are of relatively low height, the complex covers a large area. The interior of the headquarters is furnished with items like shade lamps and giant rubber balls. The lobby contains a piano and a projection of current live Google search queries. The facilities include a gym (Building 40), free laundry rooms (Buildings 40 and 42), two small swimming pools, a sand volleyball court, and eleven cafeterias of diverse selection. Google has even installed replicas of SpaceShipOne and a dinosaur skeleton. [cite news
last = Weinberg
first = Nathan
coauthors =
title = Yes, Google Has A Dinosaur
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = InsideGoogle
date = 2007-01-22
url = http://google.blognewschannel.com/archives/2007/01/22/yes-google-has-a-dinosaur/
accessdate = 2007-01-23 ]

In late 2006 and early 2007 the company installed a series of solar panels, capable of producing 1.6 megawatts of electricity. It is believed that this is the largest corporate installation in the United States. About 30 percent of the Googleplex's electricity needs will be fulfilled by this project, with the remainder being purchased. [cite news
last = Baker
first = David
coauthors =
title = Now Google sets sights on solar system
work =
pages = C-2
language =
publisher = San Francisco Chronicle
date = 2006-10-17
url = http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/17/GOOGLE.TMP&type=tech
accessdate = 2007-01-05 ] About one third of the panels will be in the form of "solar trees" mounted on poles above parking lots, with the remainder placed on rooftops. [cite news
last = Graham
first = Marty
coauthors =
title = Google Plants Solar Trees
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Wired News
date = 2006-12-13
url = http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72292-0.html?tw=wn_technology_2
accessdate = 2007-01-06 ]

The solar panel project went online on 18 June 2007. As of 21 June 2007 Google has installed over 90% of the 9,212 solar panels that comprise the 1.6 megawatt project. [ [http://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels/home Google Solar Panel Project ] ]

Location

The Googleplex is located between Charleston Road, Amphitheatre Parkway, and Shoreline Boulevard in north Mountain View, California close to the Shoreline Park wetlands. Employees living in San Francisco or the East Bay may take a wifi-enabled Google subsidized shuttle to and from work. It is powered by domestically grown and processed biodiesel. [cite web
url= http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2004/09/worth-drive.html
title= Worth the drive
first=Cari
last=Spivack
date=2004-09-13
work=Official Google Blog
publisher=Google, Inc.
accessdate=2007-01-04 ]

Neighbors of the Googleplex include ALZA Plaza and the Mozilla Foundation to the west; Shoreline Amphitheatre to the north; Intuit to the northwest and Century Theatres, Microsoft Corporation's Silicon Valley research complex, and the Computer History Museum to the south. Moffett Field lies nearby to the east.

In September 2007, NASA revealed that Google's founders had secured access to Moffett Field for their Boeing 767 and two Gulfstream Vs by paying a $1.3 million fee and allowing NASA to use the aircraft for scientific expeditions.

Other uses of the word

Prior to 7 September 1998

Googleplex (exact spelling) is also the abbreviated name of a very powerful computer in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (1979, ISBN 0-330-25864-8), a novel by Douglas Adams. It was also carried in the "The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts". Douglas Adams, edited by Geoffrey Perkins. Pan Books, London. 1985. ISBN 0-330-29288-9] for the episode broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 29 March 1978, and contained in the television version on 26 January 1981 on BBC Two. In chapter 25 of the novel, Fook asks Deep Thought anxiously:

¹ Aldebaran, not Dangrabad Beta in the scripts.

References

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_google/index.html Life in the Googleplex Photo Essay]
* [http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/culture.html The Google Culture]
* [http://www.google.com/intl/en/plex/ A Glimpse Inside Google - Googlers at work & play]
* [http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/facts.html Google Quick Information]
* [http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/showImage.jhtml?galleryID=4&imageID=1 A visual tour of Google's NYC HQ]