In April 2006, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs announced to the city council of Cupertino that Apple had acquired nine contiguous properties to build a second campus, the Apple Campus 2. The spaceship styled design has been written about for years and now there's a constant stream of drone overviews during its construction. On Wednesday we posted a report titled "Google Planning New Canopy-Like Mountain View Headquarters," but it lacked photos that were apparently buried in Cupertino's city hall. Today we present you with a series of gigantic concept drawings of Google's newly proposed campus/headquarters that have come to light and it's clear that Google is going all out to match the wow-factor of Apple's Spaceship. Both Apple and Google campuses will deliver work environments that will truly inspire their engineers and dreamers to invent the next great things for our generation and beyond.

Google notes that the building's translucent canopy as you can see below lifts up to allow the public Green Loop to go through the center of the building, with cafes and local shops on the lower levels.

You can see in the next graphic that large, translucent enclosures blur the boundaries between inside and out. These canopies regulate climate, pollution, and sound, while freeing spaces from traditional architectural limitations like walls, windows and roofs. Cafes and local shops on the lower levels open into interior open walkways under the canopy.

Below, the canopies along Shoreline Boulevard open onto a public plaza with retail spaces. Along the street, buildings are 2 or 3 stories, with taller areas toward the center of the structures.

Within the canopy, building segments operate like furniture—light, tactile and reconfigurable. These segments form small villages where employees can work or relax.

For Google the design idea was simple. Instead of constructing immoveable concrete buildings, we'll create lightweight block-like structures which can be moved around easily as we invest in new product areas. (Our self-driving car team, for example, has very different needs when it comes to office space from our Search engineers.) Large translucent canopies will cover each site, controlling the climate inside yet letting in light and air. With trees, landscaping, cafes, and bike paths weaving through these structures, we aim to blur the distinction between our buildings and nature.

Of course, this project is about much more than just office space; it's about doing more with the local community as well. So we're adding lots of bike paths and retail opportunities, like restaurants, for local businesses. We also hope to bring new life to the unique local environment, from enhancing burrowing owl habitats to widening creek beds.

Google's Designers: Overview of the Project

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