Five Timber Office Designs Reducing Stress in the American Workplace

In L.A.’s Playa Vista neighborhood, Google has transformed a historic timber hangar through adaptive reuse and biophilic design, providing 1,000 employees with a unique, open-plan work environment. The 450,000-square-foot, four-level timber hangar—named “Spruce Goose” after the Howard Hughes plane it once housed) incorporates a variety of nature-inspired design elements—creating an inviting and awe-inspiring office for the high-tech juggernaut.

Open floor plates, set back 20 feet from both the interior envelope and the central timber spine, offer workers vast longitudinal vistas of the facility’s biomorphic forms. A series of curved ribs reconstructed from the hangar’s salvaged wood support the ceiling, and the remaining smaller pieces have been used to construct furniture throughout. Spruce Goose’s interior makes the most of wood’s warm color, collinear lines, and contours, elements that are complemented by greenery and an abundance of natural sunlight. Inside, the landscape design includes lush, mature palm groves with custom-designed planters, irrigation, and grow lights.

Abundant use of wood, warm materials, organic forms, natural light, and protection from a nearby freeway were the primary features that the Washington Fruit & Produce Company requested for the design of their new commercial office.  Surrounded by sustainably cultivated farmland, a headquarters featuring biophilic design was a natural choice for the Yakima, WA-based company.