Somebody went all Jetsons on the new Google HQ design, but missed one teensy little detail.
Google recently released futuristic, high-tech, sustainable-style design plans for its Mountain View, California, headquarters, which promises to be world class. The high-tech giant announced that designers Thomas Heatherwick from Heatherwick Studio and Bjarke Ingels from BIG will spearhead Google’s radical revision of its campus.
Plans will include moveable buildings (or as Google’s Vice President of Real Estate and Workplace Services David Radcliffe called them, “lightweight block-like structures”), and move away from the traditional bricks and mortar style of buildings. Bicycle and walking paths will play a prominent role in the campus as part of Google’s “active transportation” strategy in its new sustainability initiative. A new plaza where residents can gather is also planned.
Outside of moving buildings, the idea that really caught my eye was for translucent solar canopies. These canopies will displace normal roofing and windows in building complexes. Radcliffe noted that Google plans on blurring the lines between buildings and nature, as a mixture of trees, bicycle paths, cafes, and landscapes will intertwine in between everything. What is even cooler is that the solar canopies will provide shelter from the elements while creating power at the same time.
Peter Gleick in Huffington Post:
A key to the architectural concept is “flexibility.” David Radcliffe, Google’s vice-president for real estate says:
The idea here is simple. Instead of constructing immoveable concrete buildings, we’ll create lightweight block-like structures which can be moved around easily as we invest in new product areas.
This may be a good idea for more reasons than he thinks. The map below, taken from Pacific Institute research, shows the current and future vulnerability of Google’s Mountain View headquarters to sea-level rise from human-induced climate change. Their property at the south end of San Francisco Bay is extremely vulnerable to projected sea-level rise. Indeed, forecasts over the next several decades show Google’s property to be smack in the area vulnerable to flooding with a 1.4 meter sea-level rise. Even smaller increases will boost the risk of flooding during storm events and high tides. New York recently learned a hard lesson when Hurricane Sandy struck at high tide, made worse by an increase in sea-level of 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) over the past several decades. Lloyd’s of London (pdf) estimated that this rise in sea level contributed to an increase in billions of dollars of damages from storm surges.
It’s like my home town, Bergen – where they have been quarrelling whether the new tram/trolley should go in front of “Bryggen” (old wooden building/tourist magnet) or in a tunnel close by. Neither of the proposals have really thought about sea level rise which will flood both proposals within year 2100…
Actually Bergen with 1 meter sea level rise at the end of the century will be pretty bad. That’s some sea wall they will have to build to keep the water out especially on high tide.
Here you can see a photo of how it looks like when there is a normal storm surge (we have these quite often already):
http://www.uib.no/sites/w3.uib.no/files/w2/br/bryggen1a_kopi.jpg
At least our local University has some research on climate change’s impact locally:
http://www.uib.no/en/news/36365/extreme-weather-report
Some fun to do in Bergen when there is a storm surge:
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/482/482388/CAINCDIR_280_1163059607.jpg
It’s nice to see there’s a “Why boys need mothers” club in Norway like the ones we have in the U.S. And it’s nice to see that the water that “surges” into Bergen is so clean that the “boys” go body surfing in it. If he tried that during the “surges” that occur in most big U.S. cities, his next stop would be the hospital for a series of shots—-typhoid, etc. We still have too many combined sewer systems that do not deal well with “surges”.
My back hurts from shoveling the 8 inches of heavy sticky snow that we got yesterday (and it’s below 10 degrees so it won’t melt much today). So please indulge me if I sound a bit cranky.
My reaction to this was WTF? More artsy-fartsy, pie-in-the-sky, avant-garde, hugh-tech, look-at-me, PR bullshit from a company that has made too much money by making nothing much, plain and simple. With a good dose of stupidity thrown in because of the flooding potential. Lord love a (swimming) duck!
I’d be more impressed with Google if they said they were going to refurbish some abandoned buildings in some depressed city center and thereby do some real good. The human race is too stupid and too wrapped up in self-indulgence to survive on Earth. I’m going to sign up with Musk and go to Mars!
Well, I hope they could find them again after floating away, or perhaps they could fit them with a “return to home” function too?
Maybe their buildings are designed to grow legs…. and failing that; feet on the ends. Add in some futuristic “Terminator” technology robotics, and you’ve got Transformers, who could take any higher-ground plot of land they like. Prob’ly got the land for cheap (by SF standards)…
It looks more interesting than the buildings I’ve worked in, not too many details given yet on the sustainability and energy potential. I would come out of retirement to try out the new spacious environment to harmonize with nature and enjoy the bike paths, (at least part time) if google are interested in an old mainframe specialist.
What I find vastly more impressive and exciting is the news down under.
“The rapid change in the way electricity is delivered to customers is about to be highlighted by a new project that will see a new housing estate built without being connected to the grid. The idea has the support of the government of South Australia, a state which already sources 40 per cent of its electricity from wind and solar.”
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/developers-to-use-storage-to-keep-new-housing-estates-off-grid-28220
And for architectural innovation this new home design in Thailand is impressive.
Maybe Google’s architects (Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick) should take note to counter the sea level rise/storm events risk.
“Hidden under the house and its wraparound porch are steel pontoons filled with Styrofoam. These can lift the structure three metres off the ground if this area, two hours north of Bangkok, floods as it did in 2011 when two-thirds of the country was inundated, affecting a fifth of its 67 million people.”
http://www.trust.org/item/20150305000156-r6las/?source=fiDontmiss
I propose a hashtag campaign concerning sea level rise. Since it’s a permanent reality of our future, cities and states need to be aware of it. It will cost billions, if not trillions worth in damage if not addressed.