Prepared in early 2008, this 310,000 square foot expansion of core R&D offices was developed to be Google’s first ground-up project on its Mountain View campus. SHoP’s design for Google Charleston East was proposed to establish a model for the company’s future growth, intended to achieve goals in teaming dynamics, workflow, sustainability, internal culture, and communication of Google’s overall mission. In short, the new building was meant to serve as a testing ground for innovations that would push the conventional limits of office architecture toward the optimized environments demanded by the technology leader. As such it was also designed as an entirely performance-driven project: cost-effective, functional, efficient to build, and fiscally responsible.