Google 6th Street Campus Expansion
Kirkland, Washington
- Corporate Office
- West Coast
- Art Curation
The collection is inspired by water and includes work by both local and international artists.
Jamie North’s large-scale “Remainders” installation was fabricated in his studio in Sydney, Australia and shipped across the Pacific on shipping containers. It features living plants that are native to the Pacific Northwest where the office is located, as well as vines that were grown nine months in advance of the installation.
Local artist Teresa Grassechi’s vibrant fine art prints explore humanity’s relationship to nature.
Styling in the cafe features found objects, figurines, and coffee beans - conversation starters for the office’s many employees and visitors.
Mike Lustig’s cafe installation includes lens bubbles that magnify the native plant systems inside.
The Story
As the home of a global technology company whose products help billions, the art experience for Google’s 6th Street Campus Expansion Project in Kirkland, Washington is nothing short of extraordinary. The collection works in tandem with the office’s modern architecture and sleek design to reinforce the building’s overarching theme – the continuous journey of water. As individuals move from floor to floor, they experience this journey in phases of liquid, vapor, and solid, each supported with iconic installations, biophilic art features, and endless discoveries of surprise and delight. Ultimately, the art experience aims to connect colleagues to their surroundings and to one another, prompting an intimate exploration of our individual and collective wellness and our relationship to the natural world.
Highlights from the collection include large-scale murals, vibrant fine art prints, a video installation, and aerial sculptures that transform the office into an inspiring incubator for the company’s many creative minds. The main lobby welcomes visitors with “Remainders,” a series of sculptural spheres by internationally acclaimed artist Jamie North, each made all the more captivating with the inclusion of native living plants that climb toward the light of the office’s atrium. Made of industrial by-products like coal ash and marble dust, the hard materiality of the spheres are complimented by the lush greenery of the ever-growing vines, “imbuing inorganic forms with life, vitality, and hope.”
In the north atrium hangs the office’s second large-scale installation by artists Mike Lustig and Evan Beloni. Entitled, “Rainbow Canopy,” the biomorphic structure is made up of 2,000 dichroic and mirrored elements such as maple leaves and water molecules, all suspended in an ornate pattern suggestive of tree roots. The installation symbolizes the journey of water falling from the sky, feeding the trees, and nourishing them to grow colorful canopies above us. These canopies then cast colorful light throughout the space, creating a warm energy that celebrates this cycle of prosperity and renewal.
The journey of water continues with local artist Will Schlough’s mural, which depicts colorful cumulus clouds emerging from the ground floor. The mural adds a lightness to the space and invites viewers to imagine the rest of the clouds hidden below. Similarly, artist Emma Gilbert’s mural invites viewers to reflect on the human experience and themes of love, affection, creation, pain, and growth. The mural portrays five hands that are striking in size yet gentle in nature, creating a softness intended to slow people down and prompt curiosity. And if you pause long enough, you’ll notice a phrase on the paper that one hand holds: “Life is just like Google, you just need to know what you’re searching for.”
And because all tech gurus need time to recharge, the office is equipped with an immersive zen room that plays a new media video installation by local artist Mollie Bryan (Mokedo). The underwater footage taken by Mollie herself features waves, flowers, and other nods to the Pacific Northwest’s lush patterns and textures, providing a relaxing respite for employees.
Altogether, the art experience at Google’s 6th Street Campus Expansion Project rewards viewers’ curiosity with vibrant, engaging expressions of life’s most valuable resource, producing a destination-worthy office primed for progress and innovation.
