High Tech Client Campus

Nestled low into the landscape, this updated campus imagines a new kind of workplace—in form, function, aesthetic, and connection—that is first and foremost about the wellbeing and symbiosis of people and place. Envisioned as a mesh of natural and built habitats, this High Tech Client campus is quiet, intimate, and foundational—a place where serious people can do serious work. At two stories, with an expansive, occupiable living roof, the campus is organized around a series of courtyards that invite sunlight and fresh air into every workspace, while creating a latticework village of connected indoor / outdoor social spaces and amenities specifically tuned to support the client’s unique culture.

Employees will just as likely be delighted in their individual workspaces—light-filled spaces crafted of unadorned, honest materials like wood and concrete that look onto vegetated courtyards—as they will the rooftop eateries, fitness amenities, and trails leading out to the nearby creek. An ‘inside-out’ approach to design focused on respecting both the individual and collaborative experience of being a creative at this High Tech Client.

This “inside -out” design strategy, and the courtyards scheme that grew out of it, was the result of a deep investigation into the heart of this High Tech Client. The design team found that the workspace proper—where most employees work in highly focused dyads—warranted significant attention and investment to support comfort, inspiration, productivity, and community.

Inspired by the dense, mixed-use neighborhoods of great walkable cities, the courtyards organizational concept for the campus generates a human-scaled experience of discovery and prospect in which people are invited to wander through alleyways, up staircases, around outdoor decks, and along the roof’s many pathways. Amenities include dispersed and differently scaled gathering areas, recreation zones, food and beverage stops, a café overlooking Stevens Creek in which the whole campus can gather, and a public tech center that houses galleries and a theater.

The surrounding landscape, living roof, and courtyards work in tandem as an ecologically restorative transition between the natural and built environments—one in which both habitat and people can thrive.

With sustainability and health woven into every aspect of design, the project is LEED Platinum, both Living Building Challenge Net Zero Carbon and  (Water) Petal Certification Ready, and targeting Well Building Standard Gold. It is one largest mass timber buildings in North America. While landscaping on the project site will increase by 1/3 and support a 40% increase in population, water demand will be reduced by 69%. It is one largest mass timber buildings in North America.

The project has been designed to ensure that 100% of its non-potable demand will be offset by a recycled water system that reclaims, treats, and re-uses rainwater, stormwater, greywater, and blackwater for the project and building site. Through a variety of water-efficient technologies, landscape restoration and the minimizing of wasteful interdependence between water and energy, the project has the potential to be Living Building Challenge Net Positive Water contributing back to the local depleted ecology.