Google’s newest headquarters in New York, situated within the St. John’s Terminal, will open its doors on February 26th, marking a milestone for the company’s presence in the city. The headquarters is constructed atop the original 1930s rail terminal and adapted to become a vibrant hub for over 14,000 Googlers.
The design of St. John’s terminal prioritizes collaboration and flexibility. Instead of assigned desks, the office adopts a “shared neighborhood” seating model. This entails a space allocated for each team, fostering social connections and “acting as their home base.” The design includes over 60 neighborhoods in all, each designed to support teams of roughly 20-50 workers. This approach, informed by extensive research on contemporary work patterns, hopes to create spaces that enhance productivity and innovation.
The design features a diverse range of communal areas providing Googlers with a variety of work environments tailored to their needs. This emphasis on choice and adaptability empowers all employees to work throughout the day, promoting a dynamic workplace culture.
The proposal repurposes the existing historic building in a way that minimizes its carbon footprint and aims to improve the local ecosystem by adding biophilic design components like solar panels and landscaped terraces which allows the project to save approximately 78,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, compared with creating a new structural foundation. As a result, the building has LEED V4 Platinum Certification for its core and shell development and is pursuing LEED v4 Platinum Certification for interiors.