Google has a new Singapore HQ! They've moved from Asia quare 1 to Mapletree Business City II, and it's a big upgrade. This Asia-Pacific headquarters spans block 60 to 70, and from the third to eight floors. It's home to approximately 1,000 employees.
This article was first published on Hardware Zone.
This giant assembly of screens, marked at the connecting atrium between blocks 60 and 70, is the first thing you'll see at the reception. The open spaces were designed to encourage serendipitous encounters between staff. Canteens and cafes are also centrally located, so everyone will come to the spacious middle to mingle.
You can work anywhere at Google, and you'll find desks and meeting rooms -- equipped with power plugs -- on the ground floor. The wooden floors reveal the new office's colour palette, which is inspired by the rainforest. It's a callback to their location in the tropics.
One of the two canteens in the HQ. Breakfast and lunch are provided free of charge to Googlers, and they have plenty of healthy options.
A view from the central atrium. It is up to the individual departments if they want a free-seating or dedicated desks for their staff; neither is mandatory, adults get to choose.
Hidden unhealthy snacks -- it's part of how Google uses psychology to help its staff eat healthily: put the good stuff front and center so you're more likely to grab them, and the bad stuff are out of sight, out of mind.
We heard there are Taco Tuesdays! Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin hold a weekly town hall in this canteen every Friday afternoon, and local Googlers can watch them through a giant TV (not in picture).