Celebrating the opening of the Google Visitor Experience in California

press release

Google’s new building, Gradient Canopy, pushes the boundaries of sustainable design with flexible workspaces and healthy, reclaimed materials, while the opening of their first ever Google Visitor Experience is for the whole community to enjoy.

Gradient Canopy and Bay View represent the first campuses that Google developed from the ground up. Both projects are located in ​​Silicon Valley, California, with Bay View having opened in 2022.

Turner & Townsend's San Francisco team in the U.S. has been involved with both the Gradient Canopy and Bay View projects since 2017, delivering overall cost and project controls management and helping Google implement robust controls and reporting procedures, which proved to be integral to the successful delivery of both projects. For Gradient Canopy, the global professional services company also provided project management services for the public spaces at the Google Visitor Experience from 2020 onwards.

The Google Visitor Experience features the West Coast’s first brick and mortar Google Store. Visitors can shop the latest Google products and purchase branded merchandise there, as well as dine at the café, participate in community events and workshops at The Huddle, and support small local businesses at the Pop-Up Shop. Connecting these communal spaces is an outdoor plaza which celebrates art and programming, featuring six unique artwork pieces.

As with Turner & Townsend's work on the Bay View campus, sustainability runs through the core of this project. The circular design goals for Gradient Canopy help the building, the world’s largest of its kind, to receive a Living Building Challenge Materials Petal Certification, giving back to the local environment and community over its lifespan.

“By bringing Google's goals for an adaptable, healthy and harmonious workplace to life at their Gradient Canopy building, we have also helped bring about a space where the public can connect with this sustainable vision.

Together with Google, we celebrate the opening of Gradient Canopy and the Google Visitor Experience as a beacon of green building principles and ambition being realised, with a strong focus on materials, waste reduction and health in creating a dynamic and inclusive place for all.”

Greg Spittle
Vice President, USA
Turner & Townsend