On top of the Global Pandemic forcing everyone to work differently, the climate crisis has industries around the world questioning their sustainability policies. Google is committed to operate carbon-free by 2030, so the new workplace at 237 MPD followed the rigorous guidelines set by the Living Building Challenge (ILFI), a movement to create buildings that are regenerative and healthy for people. Our brand experiences had to live up to these standards while modernizing the formerly primary feeling of the google brand. The brief was “Establishing Connections”: Connection to Place, Brand, and Sustainability.

To create a dynamic conversation between employees and the building itself. We will “show, not tell” how the Google brand prioritizes people and planet and forges human connections along the way. A walk through the main hallways should feel more like an art gallery vs a workplace. A space where invisible cloud technology powers visible impact for the community.

Our audience was employees, guests and Google customers. Google organizes the world's information and makes it accessible and useful, so our approach had to feel intelligent but uncomplicated. Our research revealed something much different than retail environments. There was no desire for attention grabbing experiences with employees. This was a workplace and any installation had to respect workplace context. So we would apply the principle of “layers”, allowing people to gather a deeper layer of information the closer they stepped into an experience. We would also be transparent, letting real-time sustainability data from building do the storytelling.

Over a 12 month engagement, we created five brand experiences and placed them throughout the 250 000 sq ft building's main circulation.

As guests traverse the lobby, a series of freestanding sculptures resolve into the Google Cloud logo; an evocative moment where complexity transforms into simplicity.

Connection to place entails connection to each other. Using the employee cafe as a canvas, the building gained a pulse with a “living” gallery wall that connects employees to a cloud based, interactive message board.

In the 1960’s, this building housed the CDC 6600 supercomputer. To honor this, we created a computer history timeline, representative of leaps in technology from the first computer, to Google’s first search engine. It’s a reminder that employees can “Build beyond Possible”.

And finally, We tapped into live solar data–a Google first–creating a light sculpture that compares the building’s energy consumption to energy harvested from the sun.

How do you measure connection and the improved quality of life at an office? You start with the data and 237 MPD is to be the largest renovation project ever certified by ILFI in the world. It achieved four of the seven Living Building Design Petals including the Materials Petal which our 5 experience activations contributed too. Currently, 5000 solar panels are reporting a harvest of 2,976,000 kWh to date, 3x more energy than the building is using. The building is truly regenerative and healthy and in turn connects employees to a healthier place.