Last month, London mayor Sadiq Khan, joined by a trio of Google executives, broke ground on the site of Google’s new campus in the city’s King’s Cross district. [...]
The property has been dubbed a “landscraper,” a building as long and as horizontal as skyscrapers are tall and vertical, and it could represent a shift in the very shape of the places where people work.
Google’s London flagship will be 1,082 feet long, which is 66 feet longer than The Shard, London’s tallest building, is high.
— Quartz at Work
Quartz' article features input from American futurist, Amy Webb, who predicts a bright future for landscrapers — not only in London.
More about the new Heatherwick Studio + BIG-designed Google London HQ here.
2 Comments
I think Holl invented this typology (and has built it), but ok. I get it. Google $ is a magnet for journalists. Still waiting on that Google HQ dome thing, too.
Taller buildings are more expensive and often are a function of the value of the land than the desire for a tall narrow building. Companies like Google also tend to change or realign people and work groups often and having a few large floors to shift working teams and individuals around in is easier when people don't have to move vertically. Also being moved up or down the building might have social and inter office political implications and is not always the organizational image companies want to express to the public and potential employees. The image of a lack of hierarchy and a narrative that every employee is figuratively if not literally on the same level as the boss is the trend right now in business.
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