Google London HQ vs Apple Park: Battle of the world's best offices
How Google's new London headquarters compares to Apple Park, opening in California this summer.
Google has revealed plans for its new London headquarters, the first HQ to be built and owned by the search giant outside of its native California.
The massive building will be constructed in Kings Cross, close to St Pancras International train station and Regent's Canal. Eleven stories high and stretched across more than 300 meters, the building is as long as the Shard, Western Europe's tallest building, is high.
The story of a technology behemoth creating a huge glass and steel structure to house thousands of employees will be familiar to many, as Apple adds the finishing touches to its own shiny new loop-shaped HQ, called Apple Park.
Here's how the two super-offices stack up:
Google London HQ | Apple Park | |
Designer | Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studios (2012 Olympic Cauldron, London Routemaster bus) | Foster + Partners (Wembley Stadium, Canary Wharf Underground station, McLaren Technology Centre) |
Floor space | 870,000 square feet | 2,800,000 square feet |
Cost | £1bn (estimate) | £3.8bn |
Size | 330m long, seven floors rising to 11 | Circular, one mile circumference, four floors |
Staff count | 7,000 | 12,000 |
Garden | 300m long landscaped roof terrace | 30-acre park with 9,000 trees |
Auditorium | 210 seats | 1,000 seats |
Fitness centre | 25m swimming pool, sports hall for basketball and football, 200m 'trim trail' running route through gardens, massage rooms | 100,000 square feet, two-storey yoga room, medical and dental services |
Silicon Valley features | 'Pause areas', sleeping pods for naps and office all-nighters | 400-ton glass cafe doors, 100% self sufficient, Jony Ive-designed door handles made from MacBook aluminium |
Status | Designs drawn, construction to start in 2018 | Building almost complete, employees to move in during summer 2017 |
Enough numbers, here are the first drawings of what Google's new London HQ will look like:
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