A closer look at Google's first mass timber building

Today, we’re announcing a new office that showcases the principles we’ve long applied to our real estate: creating sustainable spaces that allow Googlers to do their best work. It’s our first building made using mass timber, a new type of engineered wood that involves layering and laminating smaller pieces of wood together to create larger beams and walls. Take a look at 1265 Borregas in Sunnyvale, California, and find out how it was designed to benefit both Googlers and the community in the state our company calls home.

The mass timber is exposed throughout the building, including in this focus room, to provide the benefits of nature-based design.

In addition to the exposed mass timber wood, the building features skylights and floor-to-ceiling windows that provide natural light and views in the workspaces.

Supporting collaboration, focus and wellbeing

1265 Borregas reflects our latest ways of working. The building features neighborhood spaces designed to support active collaboration, hybrid connections, and heads-down focus work. It also showcases our focus on nature-based (or biophilic) workplace design.

Research suggests people are able to focus and do their best work when surrounded by nature, and a building like this one achieves this by keeping the timber exposed inside and outside of the space, while providing natural daylight and sweeping views of the Northern California landscape. Automatic wooden blinds adjust to the sun’s position and minimize glare, and an underfloor air system provides optimal comfort.

The entrance of 1265 Borregas showcases the sustainable mass timber wood material.

Decreasing carbon emissions

Mass timber’s regenerative qualities and its ability to absorb and store carbon over time — a process called sequestration — makes it a sustainable and environmentally friendly choice for building. It also helps decrease carbon emissions that come from the extraction, production and transportation of traditional building materials. Because of this, 1265 Borregas is projected to have 96% fewer embodied carbon emissions than an equivalent steel and concrete structure, when you factor in sequestration over time.

Achieving these climate benefits requires careful attention to the mass timber lifecycle, which is why 100% of the structural mass timber lumber we used for 1265 Borregas was procured from responsibly managed forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

In addition to the carbon reducing properties of mass timber, 1265 Borregas is also an all-electric, LEED Platinum building and it includes solar panels on its roof which generate electricity for the building. All of these features work together to advance Google’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions and operate on carbon-free energy 24/7 by 2030.

The public artwork by Mike Whiting is inspired by Atari, which was previously headquartered here.

1265 Borregas is situated near three acres of pollinator-friendly native plants and surrounded by trees.

Helping the community and industry

One of the biggest advantages of mass timber construction is that pre-fit building parts accelerate structural assembly, resulting in less construction traffic and on-site construction noise (like jackhammering), while also decreasing construction waste.

At 1265 Borregas and its neighboring sites, we planted three acres of pollinator-friendly native plants, including coast live oak, California sagebrush, California wild rose and common milkweed. On the northeast corner of the building, you’ll find public artwork — inspired by Atari, which was previously headquartered in this location.

This building shows what’s possible when you combine sustainability and construction efficiency into an office building, while also prioritizing employee wellbeing. We hope that others in the industry will join us in this approach in support of a more sustainable future.