Nvidia unveiled plans on Wednesday, Feb. 20 for its new headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.
The new office will be located on a 24-acre area of land purchased by the company in 2008. It will be comprised of two six-sided buildings, each measuring about 500,000 square feet. Two levels of offices and laboratories will make up the first building, along with two floors of underground parking. The company posted both aerial and conceptual street views of the complex.
As described by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the buildings have a "sloped glass curtain wall on each side rising to a curvaceous, geodesic roof." For Nvidia, the unconventional design of the building is meant to represent a merging of art and science that also symbolizes the company's vision.
"The design harmonizes smart functionality and a shape that connects with and inspires our employees — a triangle, the fundamental building block of computer graphics," said Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. "Efficient in every way, the design is thoughtful in its use of space, energy, and environment, and, of course, cost."
The new campus will be designed by architecture firm M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, with Harvard graduate Hao Ko as lead architect. According to a filing with the city of Santa Clara, Sares Regis Group of San Mateo is project developer, while engineering firm Kier & Wright and landscape architects Tom Leader Studio are project participants.
Nvidia has not indicated a budget for the building, but says that it plans to break ground in 2013. The announcement of the building comes in the wake of renewed confidence within the company due to recent developments. The company announced its Tegra 4i mobile processor earlier this week and in January unveiled Project Shield, a new hand-held console.
"Our three-person startup has grown to 8,000 staff across 40-plus sites," Huang said. "And our headquarters in Santa Clara, just a few blocks from where we started, barely has a spare desk. We're absolutely bursting at the seams. So, we've decided to build a new campus right across the street, one as distinctive as our company. The new Nvidia building will capture the ambition and imagination of our people. It will stand at the intersection of science and art, just as our work in visual computing does. It will be the symbol, the physical manifestation, of our vision of the company."
