Page 25 - I-Plants Magazine May 2021 Issue #5 v2

At its Silicon Valley outpost, Microsoft

is putting the park in office park

At Microsoft’s Silicon Valley office complex, sinks, showers, and toilets is treated for The biggest part of the office’s remaining
each desk is no more than 25 feet from reuse. Right now, all of the reused water emissions might be the way that people
nature. Some employees might walk a few goes to non-potable uses like irrigation and get to work: While the company is still
feet to step out a door into a courtyard; flushing toilets, but the system is set up encouraging remote work because of the
others might walk out onto a three-acre so that it could later be used if local laws pandemic, as people eventually return to
living roof planted with native flowers de- eventually allow onsite treatment and reuse the office, most will drive. That’s despite
signed to bring back butterflies and hum- of water for drinking. the fact that the heart of Silicon Valley is
mingbirds that were once more commonly flat, as opposed to hilly San Francisco,
found in the area. Two of the original buildings on the site and the weather is sunny the majority of
were retained, but are now surrounded by a
It’s one way that the campus—once a fairly massive building made from cross-laminat- the year, making it ideal for biking. A bike
path runs by the creek next to Microsoft’s
typical set of corporate buildings in Moun- ed timber. The wood came from diseased campus, but the challenge for many
tain View, California—has been redesigned and dying trees in the Pacific Northwest commuters is the rest of the car-centric
both to be healthier for workers and better that posed a fire hazard and that also need- region; six years ago, Google started
for the surrounding environment. “Every- ed to be removed to help slow the spread of advocating for a comprehensive network
thing on the site is interconnected,” says beetles that are decimating forests; using of bike lanes in the area to help lower its
Sam Nunes, a founding partner at WRNS wood helped lower the carbon footprint of own carbon footprint.
Studio, the design firm that reimagined the the construction.
offices. “People, water, energy, ecosystem, Windows next to desks can be opened, The City of Mountain View also wants to
all of it comes together, and amplifies the unlike those in some older office buildings, increase bike commuting, though prog-
most good for all of those considerations.” ress is slow. Microsoft’s renovated office
both to save energy and so employees can
The space is designed to have room for be more comfortable; workers can also turn has 70 electric car chargers, and room
to add more, though if every employee
40% more employees—more than 2,000 on ceiling fans. arrives in an electric car, it won’t help
people—and to triple the amount of land- the Bay Area’s traffic congestion. For
scaping on the property, but use nearly Thermal energy storage tanks in the park- Microsoft, and other large employers in
60% less water. Rain falling on sidewalks ing lot let the building pull electricity from the area, a better answer might be let-
or the plant-covered roof runs off to be the grid when demand is lowest in the early ting more people work remotely perma-
stored in tanks for later use or is filtered hours of the day, and then store it for later nently—and putting more weight behind
through bioswales, plant-filled trenches use at peak times. As with other Microsoft better bike infrastructure.
that clean the water before it travels back offices, the company pays to cover all of its
to an adjacent creek. (The area near the electricity use with renewable energy; the ADELE PETERS - https://www.fast-
creek has also been planted with oak trees company has also had on-site solar panels company.com/user/adele-peters
and other native greenery.) Water used in in Mountain View since 2006.

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