Google Open House
Google Googleplex – wouldn’t you like your London Flat to be like this?
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The Googleplex is made up of four main buildings in an area totalling 506,310 square feet, bought by Google in 2003 for the princely sum of $319 million. Most of the site’s buildings are covered in solar panels – which provide around 30 per cent of the online giant’s power requirements. Eco-friendliness is a big theme at the Googleplex. The floors are covered in tiny, hard wearing quartz stones as opposed to carpet and the stairs to carpet and the stairs are constructed from sustainably harvested wood. Employees are encouraged to use any of the hundreds of free bikes (think Boris Bikes only free) to get to meetings. Even the meeting rooms themselves are stuffed with recycled denim to help conserve heat and save heating costs.The Googleplex’s lobby incorporates screens showing search terms from around the world as they occur, like a modern art installation. The site includes a beach volleyball court, four free gyms. 19 cafeterias serving three meals a day for round-the-clock work. DIY libraries and two infinity pools on the rooftop. There are also over 200 dogs knocking around on any given day as Google employees are free to bring their pets to work with them.
Perhaps we should model Pimlico on the Googleplex?
