The project consists of four interlinked office buildings for Google, up to 16 levels in height, with two residential buildings up to 22 levels in height in the NE corner of the site, and three basement parking levels. The 200,000 square foot site is one of the largest sites within the San Jose West redevelopment by Lendlease Google Development Ventures. KPF is the master site architect, and Heatherwick is the designer for the office buildings.
Key technical challenges
Due to poor ground conditions and a high water table, constructing basements in San Jose is very expensive. The project was experiencing budget pressures from the proposed 2-level basement parking garage, which needed to provide some 600 car spaces for the development, plus another 1,200 parking spaces for use by San Jose Sharks fans when they visited the adjacent Sharks Stadium for home games.
Design work was leading to the creation of circa 1,250 parking spaces across 2 levels, some 550 spaces short of the required number. Adding a third basement level was considered cost-prohibitive. Hence RBG was invited into the project team to look for opportunities to improve the efficiency of the basement parking levels.
Added Value
RBG utilized its digital optimization algorithm called “CarParkitecture” to identify alternative basement layouts that would maintain the same basement volume, but increase the number of car spaces created. RBG was able to identify layouts that added up to 550 additional spaces, increasing the number of spaces by circa 35% without any additional construction cost. This stood to save the client circa $42 million in construction cost, as the need for a third basement level was entirely avoided.
Project Metrics
Project Value:
$400 million USD
Completion:
2022
Sector:
Commercial,
Residential & Retirement
RBG Service:
Structural
Project Metrics
Client:
Lendlease Google
Development Ventures
Architect:
KPF
Sustainability Credentials:
LEED Gold