Modern Architecture - Google Headquarters (14 photos + video)

We've looked inside the headquarters of social media giants Twitter and Facebook. Today, we turn it up a notch and take a tour of the "Googleplex" in Mountain View, California - a place where teams of Googlers are currently devising a plan to take over the world.

Though Google has grown a lot since it opened in 1998, they still maintain a small company feel. At lunchtime, almost everyone eats in the office café, sitting at whatever table has an opening and enjoying conversations with Googlers from different teams. Their commitment to innovation depends on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. Every employee is a hands-on contributor, and everyone wears several hats.

Because they believe that each Googler is an equally important part of our success, no one hesitates to pose questions directly to Larry or Sergey in their weekly all-hands ("TGIF") meetings – or spike a volleyball across the net at a corporate officer.

Google's corporate website

Tags: Google Headquarters, Modern Architecture

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Comment by Dijana on December 26, 2009 at 1:08pm: @Eugene - we did it for a while..all you need is young people who are "underchallenged" and one who will start the game.
it was so fun going to work.

there were days when i came to the office and i was afraid to sit down on my chair..they switched cables on my keyboard and PC with the cable from the guy who sit next to me..
they put superglue on the bottom of my coffee cup...on the phone handset from the co-worker who didnt know this and when they phone rang he picked up the whole phone, looked at all of us crazy and then switched the phone to speaker...superglue on pens...just anything on the table.
then we bought some "playmobil" products and played with those, made some videos ,funny pictures..

and so many other things...that i miss right now :)

Comment by Eugene on December 26, 2009 at 12:45pm: @Dijana - LOL! Those are so hilarious! I would love to work in an office where people actually pulled those off.

Comment by Dijana on December 26, 2009 at 11:38am: my previous job was not at google so it didnt look fun and it was not really fun until we made it fun..
i dont know if you heard of "office dares" ..so we were maybe 30 young people on the same floor, sometimes bored, sometimes not motivated but little too crazy..
there are really no rules to this game but when you see someone doing something funny, you really hope its one of those games.

One point office dares...

1) Run one lap around the office at top speed.

2) Groan out loud in the toilet cubicle (at least one other 'non-player' must be in the toilet at the time).

3) Ignore the first five people who say 'good morning' to you.

4) Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and say, "Just called to say I can't talk right now. Bye."

5) To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your ears and grimace.

6) When someone hands you a piece of paper, finger it, and whisper huskily, "Mmmmmmm, that feels soooooo good!".

7) Leave your zip open for one hour. If anyone
points it out, say, "Sorry, I really prefer it this
way".

8) Walk sideways to the photocopier.

9) While riding in a lift, gasp dramatically every time the doors open.

10) Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.

Three point office dares...

1) Say to your boss, "I like your style" and shoot
him with double-barrelled fingers.

2) Babble incoherently at a fellow employee then ask, "Did you get all that, I don't want to have to repeat it".

3) Page yourself over the intercom (do not disguise your voice).

4) Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink
directly from the nozzle (there must be a 'non-player' within sight).

5) Shout random numbers while someone is counting.

6) Put your rubbish bin on your desk and label it
"IN."

7) Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has got over his or her caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.

8) Don't use any punctuation

9) As often as possible, skip rather than walk.

Five point office dares...

1) At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice to conclude with the singing of the national anthem (extra points if you actually launch into it yourself).

2) Walk into a very busy person's office and while they watch you with growing irritation, turn the light switch on/off 10 times.

3) For an hour, refer to everyone you speak to as "Bob".

4) Announce to everyone in a meeting that you "really have to go do a number two".

5) After every sentence, say 'Mon' in a really bad
Jamaican accent. As in "the report's on your desk, Mon". Keep this up for one hour.

6) While an office mate is out, move their chair into the lift.

7) In a meeting or crowded situation, slap your
forehead repeatedly and mutter, "Shut up, all of you just shut up!"

8) At lunchtime, get down on your knees and announce, "As God is my witness, I'll never go hungry again".

9) In a colleague's diary, write in 10am: "See how I look in tights".

10) Carry your keyboard over to your colleague and ask "You wanna trade?".

11) Repeat the following conversation 10 times to the same person: "Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, it's gone now".

12) Come to work in army fatigues and when asked why, say, "I can't talk about it".

13) Posing as a maitre d', call a colleague and tell
him he's won a lunch for four at a local restaurant. Let him go.

14) Speak with an accent (French, German, Porky Pig etc) during a very important conference call.

15) Find the vacuum and start vacuuming around your desk.

16) Hang a two-foot long piece of toilet roll from
the back of your pants and act genuinely surprised when someone points it out.

17) Present meeting attendees with a cup of coffee and biscuit, smash each biscuit with your fist.

18) During the course of a meeting, slowly edge your chair towards the door.

19) Arrange toy figures on the table to represent
each meeting attendee, move them according to the movements of their real-life counterparts.

Comment by Eugene on December 26, 2009 at 10:26am: @The Lisa - lol.

Comment by The Lisa on December 26, 2009 at 10:21am: @eugene & @kevin - I'm trying really hard to think of a time at work when I've felt like using a break to strip in the middle of the day in front of my coworkers. Or when I've wanted to a see a coworker swing around a pole. Nope. Nothing.

Comment by Eugene on December 26, 2009 at 10:03am: @Thelisa and @Kevin - That's what I was thinking too!

Comment by Kevin on December 26, 2009 at 8:04am: wait, was that a stripper pole?

Comment by Mark Huckabee on December 26, 2009 at 3:36am: I've actually been in the Google offices in Mountain View (several years ago). I can tell you it is a pretty cool place. Working there would definitely be awesome, except for the fact that you have to live pretty far away on account of all the gazillionaires who can afford to live closer than you! About two years ago they interviewed me for a job at one of their other offices and when I didn't get it I was crushed. Oh well, I'm pretty happy where I am though.

Comment by Eugene on December 25, 2009 at 6:44pm: @Dijana - Thanks for the catch. I guess some of the pics could be from other Google offices around the world.

Comment by Dijana on December 25, 2009 at 2:53pm: so yahoo did the same..moved their European HQ to Switzerland

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/13/yahoo-relocating-european-hq-f...

General Motors follows

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091215/COPY02/...

KRAFT moving Euro HQ to Zurich

The future lays in countries with low taxes i guess.