Google unveils 'campus' plan with modular buildings

Google unveiled a plan Friday for a new headquarters campus that includes waterways, public gardens, covered bikeways and modular building structures. The redesign for Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels and London-based Thomas Heatherwick was submitted to local officials Friday, with details released on the company's official blog. "As we've inhabited a variety of workplaces -- including a garage in Menlo Park, a farmhouse in Denmark and an entire New York city block -- we've learned something about what makes an office space great," Google vice president for real estate David Radcliffe said in a blog post. "And we're excited to put that into practice, starting here at our home in Mountain View." Radcliffe said the new campus will "lead to a better way of working." "The idea is simple. Instead of constructing immoveable concrete buildings, we'll create lightweight block-like structures which can be moved around easily as we invest in new product areas," he said. Radcliffe noted that the needs of the Google self-driving car team are different from those of search engineers. "Large translucent canopies will cover each site, controlling the climate inside yet letting in light and air," he said. "With trees, landscaping, cafes and bike paths weaving through these structures, we aim to blur the distinction between our buildings and nature."