Google Using British Columbia Knowhow to Build First Mass-Timber Office in Sunnyvale, California

Google, the global technology giant, has engaged Vancouver, British Columbia-based Michael Green Architecture to serve as the lead designer on their first ever mass-timber office in Sunnyvale, California. The five-story, 182,000 square-foot-facility is scheduled for completion in 2022.

The project relies primarily on composite wood products sourced from B.C., which principal architect Natalie Telewiak said will cut the carbon intensity of the building by 96 percent compared to traditional concrete and steel.

In speaking about the project, Telewiak said, “These materials are actually grown by the sun. So, you think about the carbon that goes into those trees and forests, grows those materials, and then when we sustainably extract those form the forest and then replant them, that new tree then also absorbs carbon. So, when done sustainably, it’s part of a net-zero solution for construction.”

The prefabricated pieces can then be assembled more quickly than traditional construction methods; in the Sunnyvale project, the entire superstructure went up in 12 weeks.