Untamed Creativity at Google Campus, Dublin

With over 47,000 square metres of office space, Google’s Dublin campus spreads across four buildings in the heart of the historic dock-lands district. An amazing workplace for Google’s ever-expanding sales, marketing, finance and engineering teams, the campus is the place of employment for people from more than 65 countries, speaking over 45 languages. The tallest of the four campus building is the newly constructed 14-storey building ‘Google Docks’. Two other buildings – ‘Gasworks House’ and ‘Gordon House’ – were already home to Google and were completely refitted. A fourth building, ‘One Grand Canal’ was also newly fitted out.

For the Masterplan, the architects had to find a smart solution to the nearly impossible – to create a stimulating and interactive campus within a bustling environment in the midst of the inner city.

A balanced, healthy work environment

Apart from innovative office spaces, the Masterplan required the successful organisation of a multitude of additional functions, including five restaurants, 42 micro-kitchens and communication hubs, games rooms, a fitness centre, a pool, wellness areas, a learning and development centre doubling as conference centre, tech stops, over 400 informal and formal meeting rooms and phone booths and much, much more. All these functions are part of the holistic work philosophy of Google, encouraging a balanced, healthy work environment and enabling as much interaction and communication between Googlers as possible. With a total floor area of almost 50,000 square metres, the designers were able to take full advantage of the creative freedom allowed to them by the client to specify both hard flooring and an amazing range of carpet designs.

A vast array of diverse moods and atmospheres

Flooring was first selected for functional requirements such as acoustics, maintenance and wear, with carpet tiles mostly selected over wall to wall carpet as flexibility of access to underfloor cabling was a key requirement. The design team from Camenzind Evolution states: “Once the initial functional layer had been assigned, the further differentiation of flooring finishes was based on the look and feel to be achieved. This is where the variety of colours, textures and patterns come into play and allowed us to create a vast array of diverse moods and atmospheres.” Carpet for the open office areas is least ‘busy’ as it is covered by desks for the most part. “Special areas such as informal lounges, games rooms, large meeting rooms and such were the perfect scene for bolder and more sophisticated patterns,” say the designers, “and this is where feature carpets, including those with unique custom patterns, can get the appreciation they deserve.”

“For the Masterplan, the architects had to find a smart solution to the nearly impossible – to create a stimulating and interactive campus within a bustling environment in the midst of the inner city.”

From mimicking nature to celebrating Irish achievements

Carpet design runs the gamut from faux natural finishes such as stonework, wood, grass and sand to unique designs incorporating Ireland’s ‘prides and joys’, including an excerpt from James Joyce’s Ulysses, sheet music from The Pogues’ song ‘Fairytale of New York’ and traditional Celtic ornamental patterns.
And carpet is not just confined to floors. In an informal meeting area, steps are covered in fluffy, grass-like carpet to double as seating and in one games room, an amazing snake-patterned carpet continues to slither up one wall.

Following Google’s ‘Be Green’ guideline, only environmentally friendly and sustainable materials were selected for the fit-out, also leading to the project winning the first LEED Platinum certification in Ireland. In the world of custom carpets, the designers found the perfect combination of all these project requirements and visions: “As well as fulfilling Google’s directives to ‘Be Green’, ‘Be Creative’ and ‘Be Innovative’, the carpets used in the project also supported the client’s idea of creating a cosy and homey office where everyone gets to feel comfortable and relaxed – almost like their own homes!”

Key takeaways from this amazing design:

• Exciting carpet designs can be used to create stimulating ‘mini-universes’ in a large fit-out. 
• Use plainer carpet in desk areas and bolder carpet designs in areas where they will be fully appreciated.
• Using carpet tiles gives easy access to under-floor cabling for maintenance purposes, which is greatly appreciated by busy workplaces requiring high flexibility and low down-time.
• Use carpet for steps and wide stairs to double as seating or an informal meeting area
• Take advantage of having an innovative, forward thinking client to be bold with custom carpet design