A 47000 square meters office building is set to rise in Newark, NJ — and once complete, it will be the largest mass timber office structure in the U.S. Designed by Vancouver firm Michael Green Architecture (MGA). The proposed Newark office will consist of three interconnected volumes and it will be more than double the size of the nation’s current largest mass-timber building, the T3 North Loop M building in Minneapolis. Mass-timber construction is growing in popularity across the U.S. and is lauded for fast construction, strength, and eco-friendly benefits. Though the building will be built on a concrete foundation, the structural components will be mass timber and will be treated to be fire resistant. The building comprises three stepped volumes ascending from six to eight and then 11 stories. The exterior will be clad in either brick or metal panels, while the interiors will feature exposed wood and be bathed in natural light thanks to ample glazing and a central atrium. Workers will also enjoy access to rooftop gardens. Described by the developers as the city's "most ambitious mixed-use project", the Riverfront Square proposal will include a total of 186000 square meters of office spaces, 2,000 residential units, a hotel, public space and cultural facilities.

Amazon has finally opened its stunning new downtown Seattle office, and it’s unlike any workspace we’ve seen before, reported The Bloomberg. The Amazon Spheres are three glass geodesic domes that provide office and greenhouse space. Designed by NBBJ, the US$ 4 billion “mini-rainforest” campus will house over 800 Amazon employees in addition to more than 40,000 plants in an ecosystem built to emulate a verdant cloud forest. Amazon’s giant geodesic domes are made with a steel frame holding 2,643 laminated glass panels made up of four-layered low-iron glass to minimize heat loss. The largest of the three domes measures 27 meters tall and 40 meters in diameter with five floors (and a four-story-tall living plant wall that grows 200 plant species). Retail space occupies the ground floor and part of the first floor. Over 400 species of plants from more than 30 countries are represented in the domes and are cared for by a full-time horticulturalist. Nearly all of the plants were grown in a suburban greenhouse for the Spheres project. The flora centerpiece is a 17 meters-tall Ficus tree (nicknamed Rubi) that weighs almost 16.300 kilograms and was craned into the space through the roof. The plantings are mostly organized in either the Old World garden that features African and Asian plants, or in the New World garden with a focus on the Americas. An architectural highlight is undoubtedly the “bird’s nest,” a timber tree house suspended 9 meters in the air that serves as an intimate meeting space. The interior temperature will be stabilized at 69 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit with 60 percent humidity, and the climate will vary throughout the space. Recycled heat from the nearby data center is used to heat the Spheres. The project is on track for LEED Gold certification. The public is welcome to take a free tour of the facilities but must first book with Spheres Discovery at Understory.

Google has unveiled plans for a new campus in the Moffett Park area of Sunnyvale, California that will be located just a few kilometers from its long-awaited “Googleplex” headquarters in Mountain View. And just like the company’s Mountain View and London campuses in the works, the building has been designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), reported the Archdaily. According to the architectural portal, the complex will consist of two terracing buildings containing over 93 thousand square meters of office space and room for up to 4,500 employees. And as in many of BIG’s most successful projects, the design concept centers on fostering activity and maximizing accessible space, including on its ramped roof where Google workers will be able to walk, bike or rollerblade between levels. By bringing the roof down to ground level, the buildings will become a visual extension of the surrounding parks and neighborhood, a site that Google envisions as a future mixed-use community where its employees could both work and reside. The land for the project was acquired in a US$ 210 million deal with NetApp earlier this month and in a larger land grab purchased in July of last year, totaling 164 thousand square meters. The Caribbean is envisioned as part of a larger strategy for the expansion of Google’s presence in the city. As part of their community outreach initiative, Google has already contributed over US$1million toward housing for Sunnyvale's homeless population and more than US $750 thousand toward educational projects.

Could you ever imagine working in a small city? A new massive office building by Morphogenesis is being built to accommodate over 45,000 people for the Surat Diamond Bourse office in Surat, Gujarat, India. At 603.9 thousand square meter, and housing over 4,000 offices, it will be the second largest office building in the world, placing only behind the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Although its physical footprint may be large, the office building was designed in a manner to minimize its ecological footprint. Passive design strategies such as day-lit workspaces, natural ventilation, and indoor/outdoor spaces not only make the Surat Diamond office an efficient climate-responsive design, but also a key player for achieving aesthetic and comfortable working spaces. Perhaps the largest challenge with a design of this size is how to navigate the large volume of people which would inhabit it. Morphogenesis approached this by designating the ground plane for vehicular movement and podium levels exclusively pedestrian circulation. On this podium level, transportation routes are optimized to create no walking time greater than 4 minutes from an entrance to office module—a design strategy similar to that of airport terminals. The Surat Diamond Office wanted to foster an environment of social interaction and recreation. Over 40% of the building spaces are naturally ventilated, and a dense vegetation fills both the outside and inside of the building. These decisions not only blur the line between interior and exterior but also creating psychological advantages and improving indoor air quality. Additional climate-responsive design techniques are utilized to combat the hot and humid climate of Surat. All offices have been designed to face a pure north-south orientation, and a robust building envelope with less than 30% window area, lightweight concrete block construction and using the advantages of thermal mass by natural brick cladding helps bring down the external heat gains. The efficiency of the building also extends into its construction design. The project represents an innovative approach to low-cost architecture designed with maximum spatial efficiency. Design optimization and simplicity through design modularity diminished project costs to as low as US$ 555.6 for square meter while still maintaining high standards of environmental sustainability.

Apple is moving into Silicon Valley headquarters that look like a spaceship. Facebook is expanding its campus with a new building designed by Frank Gehry. Now it's Google's turn. Recently Google has announced about its new headquarters in Mountain View. Architectural firms Heatherwick Studio and BIG are collaborating on the design of Google's new Mountain View Campus named "Googleplex". The campus is designed with a strong emphasis on the natural environment, with office buildings contained within large dome-shaped greenhouses and abundant plant life present both inside and out. The campus will be open to the public so that the local community can enjoy the open green spaces. The development will also include wildlife habitats and will restore waterways that feed water to the Bay. Additionally, the new "Googleplex" will create an escape from the "parking lot" environment familiar to much of Silicon Valley. Roads will be designed for bikes and for pedestrians, with an urban environment that promotes a lively, stimulating energy. More details are still to come, and indeed more work is still to be done.