Google gets go-ahead to break ground on new, futuristic HQ
Construction could begin on the new "Charleston East" complex as soon as April. The project is scheduled for completion in 2019.
Google's proposed headquarters are scheduled to be finished in a couple of years.
Google is readying its own new futuristic campus in Silicon Valley.
The tech giant can now break ground on its new headquarters after city officials in Mountain View, California, unanimously approved the project Tuesday.
Construction could begin on "Charleston East" as early as next month. The proposed dome-shaped complex will cover 595,000 square feet and be two stories high. The building is expected to be done by 2019 and house up to 2,700 employees.
The approval comes about a month before rival Apple is scheduled to open its doughnut-shaped headquarters in nearby Cupertino. Apple employees will soon move into the 175-acre campus called Apple Park and the building many playfully call "the spaceship." The general public will be able to shop at a retail store and dine at a cafe.
Similarly, at Google's complex the public will be able to use plaza space and walk through the main building's bottom floor as well as dine in the same cafes Google workers will use.
Google real estate director John Igoe told KPIX-TV that designing the campus began from the inside out.
"We wanted to find out how we could get a space to be very, very flexible and that wouldn't have a lot of walls and the typical type of restrictions you have," he said.