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Google has unveiled its new headquarters in New York.
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The office, which is next to the Hudson River, features 1.5 acres of plants.
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The tech giant has doubled its New York headcount from 7,000 in 2018 to 14,000 in 2024.
Google opened the doors to its new headquarters in New York in February.
The structure was built on top of a three-story 1930s rail terminal, which used to be the end point of the High Line, a public park, Google said in a blog.
The tech giant said it has doubled its headcount in New York from 7,000 in 2018 to more than 14,000 — but the new office can seat about 3,000 people.
Situated right next to the Hudson River, it has 1.5 acres of plants on the street level of the building, as well as on its railway gardens and terraces.
“We’ve worked to make sure Google’s New York offices enhance the communities where we operate instead of towering over them,” Sean Downey, Google’s president of Americas and global partners, said in a blog.
He added, “One of the ways we do this is by adapting historic buildings to be reused for our offices, like Pier 57 and Chelsea Market.”
The train station first opened in 1934 as the southern terminus for New York’s West Side rail line (the High Line).
Take a look at its new headquarters in New York called St. John’s Terminal.
Google announced in 2021 that it would buy office spaces it already leases as part of its Google Hudson Square campus for $2.1 billion.
Google is planning to move out of its 52,000-square-foot office in Fremont, Seattle, this summer, The Puget Sound Business Journal reported.
It has subleased the building from Tabeleau since 2017, the report said.
The new office overlooks the Hudson River.
Downey said in the blog that a portion that “loomed over Houston street” was removed, along with a dark tunnel. A connection between the Hudson Square neighborhood and the waterfront was restored.
Google said it will have a new shared “neighborhood seating model” in the NY office.
Teams will have assigned areas instead of employees having their own assigned desks, per the blog.
The 12-story building has solar panels on its roof.
It also makes use of wood reclaimed from the Coney Island boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy.
It has work lounges on every floor and break out spaces throughout the building.
There are also multiple cafes, terraces, and micro-kitchens for team “neighborhoods.”
The space’s interior was designed by architecture firm Gensler.
Carlos Martínez Flórez, Gensler’s co-managing director, told Fast Company, “Google didn’t want it to feel like this is for us, they wanted to show that this building is part of New York.”
He added, “The building was not designed as a fortress, that was important for Google.”
There are also communal spaces where Googlers can work.
The building also has an events hub for Google’s clients and partners.
There’s plenty of room on the rooftop to work.
Google said it projects it will save about 78,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by building on the rail terminal, instead of creating a new structural foundation.
Google has more than 70 offices in 50 countries.
Thirty-six of the offices are based in the US, Google’s website says. It has an on-site hotel at the Bay View campus in California for employees, which cost $99 a night in a promotion it ran last summer until September.
Google kept its signature quirky style for the new office.
The company is known to have some of the coolest offices around the world. Its corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California, called “Googleplex” has a 31,276 square-feet space called Salt.
It’s based on the history of salt production in the area as the old ghost town of Saline City and its salt marshes were a source of salt production dating back to 1854.
It has a history of erecting offices in unexpected buildings.
It’s previously converted an old airplane hangar in LA and a
former vodka factory in Warsaw, Poland, into offices.
On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider’s parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company’s advertising practices.
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