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Gallery Of New Google Zurich Office  (View post)

John Honeck [PersonRank 10]

Tuesday, January 22, 2008
16 years ago8,635 views

Very nice. No wonder JohnMu works such long hours and at all times of the day.

beussery [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I know the books on the wall are fake but I wonder if there is a secret door to a hidden room behind one of those bookshelfs full of fake books? It would be really cool if that were the case.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Wow, pretty creative office space.

Corsin Camichel [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Nice. They finally completed their last two floors :) The first two looked like "0815 cubicles" with no special stuff. Although the kitchen has a pool table and a Wii and an awesome view over Zurich :-)
Hmm... maybe I should check it out next week.

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

http://blogoscoped.com/files/new-google-zurich/large/banana.jpg

<< This may be a meeting room (with banana on top). >>

If you'll insert a coin, it will move? :P

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

BTW,

How do you know the bookshelf and the fireplace are fake Philipp? :|

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

David, you need to open the zoomed image to see this, the book patterns are repeating themselves (and they look kinda flat). Also, the fire looks kind of like it's on a screen of some sort, though I might be wrong. I guess if both screen and bookshelves are fake then it has some style, if only half is fake it may just look cheap :)

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Yeah i hear ya.. (the background wall has kinda turned it in :P)

Though it looks real.. Too real.. :P

Daniel Harper [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Not sure if it's been made clear (or am I just stating the obvious?), the "bathysphere" moniker the photographer has used, referring to the "igloo satellite cabin" is actually a term used in the computer game "Bioshock", they're the transportation system used within the context of the game and do have quite a resemblance to those in the photo.

Pretty cool huh?

martinsc [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

wow, that looks awesome!

Winston [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Very cool Office .

Google Employee [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Its true, all of it. Though I will not state my name....

those banana meeting rooms....bad stuff happens there.

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

The books too?
It's repeating itself...
It's quite obvious after you take a close look.

Stephan Locher [PersonRank 9]

16 years ago #

I just saw part of the office(With the artifical fireplace) on Swiss television SF:
They showed it in the magazine 10vor10 as part of a short feature about the insufficent number of IT workers.

They show some nice looking workplaces in different companys like google, some small business/startups and the Microsoft Development Center Switzerland. The language of the narrator is standard German and the interviews are held in Swiss German:
http://real.xobix.ch/ramgen/sfdrs/vod/10vor10/2008/01/450k/10vor10_20080128.rm?start=0:11:33.615&end=0:16:38.386

Only the google part:
http://real.xobix.ch/ramgen/sfdrs/vod/10vor10/2008/01/450k/10vor10_20080128.rm?start=0:15:13.215&end=0:16:38.386

Andrin von Rechenberg, Software Developer Google explains:
"The best ideas most often hit us in our game rooms, for example you stay at a kicker and then you tell [your colleagues] 'hey, I just considered [that] it isn't solved yet, this and that problem, it isn't solved yet, maybe, come on, let's try it', you don't have to ask them 'can we do this project', we just do it."*

Googles Senior Vice President Urs Hölzle states: "The potential for a much bigger local IT industry would be here, Switzerland could be sozusagen Silicon Valley of Europe because all the requirements would be there, high payroll, very good education but the critical mass [of computer personell] isn't here".*

P.S. My favourite is the playground slide into the cafeteria.

Origin of the videos:
«Quelle: SF / 10vor10 / 29.01.2008»

* The translations are far away from perfect because I'm no native english speaker and swissgerman is difficult to translate because there are many word repetitions which sounds a little bit strange in a standard language but I hope that it gives you an impression about what they told the reporter.

Kurt Denwer [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Heh, I wish we had this in our office too. But I doubt we could justify the purchase to our boss ;-)

[signature removed.]

Anthea Wallhead [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Please note, the Igloo Satellite Cabins are not bathyspheres, they are fibreglass cabins, usually insulated and with floor panels, mostly used in Antarctica. Google purchased 4 from my company in Tasmania, Australia, for use as meetings rooms in their new offices. Other pictures available on www.icewall.com.au.

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