Architecture firm Scott Brownrigg have completed the London office of internet search engine Google, with a giant logo in the lobby forming doorways through the two Os.
Designed with a Brighton beach theme, the interior is filled with dodgem cars used as work spaces, red telephone booths, beach huts and giant dice.
Wallpaper in the meeting rooms and video conference booths is printed with seaside imagery.
The space also includes a gym, spa centre and restaurant offering free meals for the 300 strong staff.
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Here’s some more information from Google:
SCOTT BROWNRIGG INTERIOR DESIGN COMPLETES PHASE ONE OF GOOGLE’S NEW LONDON OFFICE
Scott Brownrigg Interior Design has created a new 40,000 sq ft office for Google at 123 Buckingham Palace Road, London to accommodate over 300 staff.
The new office is designed to create a dynamic and collaborative work environment that supports the growing number of Google staff in London. As with many other Google offices worldwide, the office has a strong local theme. Joe Borrett and Jane Preston from Google, working with the Scott Brownrigg Interior Design team chose a theme of London-Brighton and as a result many iconic elements of both are incorporated into the office design.
For example, brightly coloured timber beach huts are meeting rooms and giant colourful dice accommodate individual video conference booths, original dodgem cars and traditional red telephone booths are all work spaces available to staff and visitors. Open plan workstations for all staff are mixed with a few offices, meeting rooms and open break out seating areas and support spaces for printing and IT technical support. Google look after the health and welfare of their staff in an exceptional way and Scott Brownrigg Interior Design has designed a fully fitted out gym/shower facility, massage and spa treatment centre, and an Asian Fusion/Sushi restaurant that is free for all staff.
Ken Giannini, Interior Design Director of Scott Brownrigg stated: “It is little wonder that Google is one of the most desirable places to work in the UK. We have enjoyed every minute of this exciting project. All the Google staff are up for innovation, brilliant ideas and they like to be challenged. We also recognise that Google is a serious business and demands efficiency, value and solutions that can support their business practices. This project has it all – a fun working environment that also incorporates lots of practical solutions.”
Joe Borrett, Head of Real Estate and Construction for Google commented that: “The office was designed and delivered in a very fast timescale (4 months) and the team of consultants and the contractor pulled out all the stops to get it done. It was an impressive effort.”
Jane Preston, UK Facilities Manager at Google said: “The first impressions by visitors and our staff has been very positive. The project fits well with our real estate and HR strategy and will definitely help support our growth plans. We see the work environment as a major recruitment factor for us to compete for the best talent and this new office certainly does that.”
Client: Google
Interior Designers/Planning: Scott Brownrigg Interior Design
Programme Managers: CBRE
Project Managers and Cost Consultants: MottMacDonald
M&E Consultants: TBA
Main Contractor: Cameron Black
Size/floor space: 40,000 sq ft
Timetable: 16 weeks
Furniture: Desking System: Bene, Task chairs: Herman Miller, Knoll, Vitra, Hitch Mylius, Wiesner Hager, Arper, James Burleigh
Flooring: Interface Floor, Object Carpet, Dalsouple
Completion of phase one was November 2010 and phase two (10,000 ft2) completes March 2011.
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Whow, what an office. That explains also why Google is one of the most desirable work places. I find the pictures inspiring to people in many ways whether it is for an office, a restaurant or even a private home.
The letter "e" is a deadly weapon, a sign has to be hung if they don't want their workers to get hurt early in the morning! Despite that, I'd be very happy working there!
The 'e' is made of foam.
Why, nothing to be DIY?
Gross, that is going to not age well at all. Also, if I was an employee, I would not like to be designed for as if I was a child. It looks like a Gymboree store.
yes, the "e" letter goes great :) one can easily cut his ankle at once
It's bright and fun but kind of abrasive. I wonder if, after working long hours, you would develop a headache from all the color clutter. Maybe a more abstracted translation of the colors could have informed a relevant, but less "toy store" like pallete. I like the meeting rooms and conference booths.
It's great to see that architecture can be fun and playful. It is also wonderful to see a company embrace such a great culture and manifest it in a design like this. Great project!
"embrace such a great culture and manifest it in a design" in my opinion using colors and a font is not embracing a great culture. Google is what it is today because of its simplicity and 'its doing what its supposed to do'! This has more to do with the core of the company and is more valuable to create an office structure with than this colour orgy… can you imagine what happens if they decide to change logo what is left then of this design?
like a kindergarten school
I agree with the 'e' as a weapon on the floor….
Apart from that: what a chaos. Looks like a badly designed kindergarten inspired. Who wants to sit in these cubicles or even work in them…
Where are the windows, where is the daylight? is it in the cellar?
No place or corner visible to sit and work in a relaxed an concentrated way. Also looks very overloaded and cramped. Would not want to work there.
The photos show an empty space without people. Imagine how even more stressful it must look with all the workers rushing around…
agree…the letter 'e' would be deadly…wonder how they managed to build it like that. other than that, nothing really intriguing….
I wouldn't. Looks like kindergarden not a real office. Oh, what about logotype if google changes it every year, they should redesign it here as well.
i guess i'm getting old; toys and beach huts in the office seem a bit, well, kindergarten; that said, i'd love have my office in a beach hut by the sea.
=/ I´m sorry but I fail to see why it has to look like something out of Disneyland, I feel it looks a bit like a kindergarden.
love the system ceiling..:S
and it looks more like a kindergarten than anything else..
i would prefer a nice office with some natural materials, a window in sight, and a real view in stead of beach wallpaper, but maybe im just not child enough…
I find the first comment to be hilarious, because this project is about as far away of feng shui as you can get…
yikes, it's a circus! i was tired of it before i was finished looking at all the images. is it an office or daycare center? i'm all for playful, but this seems juvenile to me…more clive wilkinson and less sesame street please.
looks like a test scene from a render program.
Too fun becomes too sickly
looks great… the office in my dream =/
This company's top-class world
Ccolorful office interior, we like cheerful colors like this,,
it's a total mess IMHO, there isn't a consistent idea anywhere in it, between the supergraphics, extremely mixed furniture collection, the cabanas (or whatever the hell those are), and yes, the tripping hazard that is the lowercase 'e'.
i guess it comes as no surprise given that the whole google graphic 'identity' was derived from a non-designer who is a big fan of dale chihuly. oh the whimsy! bleh.
Oh my…I think it's patronizing and juvenile. Can you imagine the headaches you would get after being in that primary color, fluorescent lit romper room? Yeesh. I mean, I know Google wants to keep promoting that "young, hip" image of the go-go 90's…but honestly, this just seems forced.
Some of you must be sending your children to wonderfully expensive childcare centres! Apart from the 'logo' front of house, I think the overall environemnt looks very stylish and relaxed.
Absolutely ridiculous! I'm sorry, but it's just another one of those 'creative workspaces' – thought we'd left all this behind us in the 90s. Still looking for the intelligent bit but no, it's just plain dull. urgh, grow up!
this is way too much… I absolutly agree with the idea of this causing a headeache after a few hours…
As with Julia above I'm sorry too – the 'office as playground' is passé and does not fit well in this day and age of serious and necessary application. I'm not saying work shouldn't be fun but it is ultimately meant also to be professional. And, oh yes to echo Julia's other point, it's also not a juvenile occupation but an adult reality.
Doesn't really show much respect for the people working in here – agree with Beatrice… patronising.
Absolutely no thought given to how people work, or how the environment will affect people. Personally, I wouldn't want to be working here!
Plus this fit-out isn't going to age well.
The 'fun to be at work' theme works extremely well in other Google offices around the world. Zurich and New York are of course the bench marks for 'fun' offices everywhere. These designs are fresh, carefully considered and consistent throughout.
But Scott Brownrigg's design is just a tangled mess. It looks cheap and nasty. And whilst the ohers have silly elements to them (slippery dip in Zurich and Lego office in NY) they don't look so silly because the rest of the spaces have substance. This feels like a big project undertaken by an inexperienced team.
I work in that office.
Some reactions to the previous comments:
- the "color clutter" is not a real issue: most colourful items are packed in transitional areas (most of the pictures you see come from the reception or canteen spaces), the desk spaces are toned in a light blue, brown, black and white palette. And, well, corporate identity plays a role too. Googlers are used to bright colours.
- The themed thing is also a corporate identity one. Believe me or not, I find this part of the London office to be one of the most toned down in the whole company. And well, it takes more than a themed office to feel patronized. If you are surrounded with people who work hard and are correctly managed, a light touch is actually welcome.
- The e is in foam (and I think the bottom has been removed).
Hope this helps.
The entrance and colour are to locate the places easily. The actual place of work, meeting rooms are not bright in colour which makes it a very comfortable place.
Not that great design, but better than having a boring cubicles and dull colours.