Courtesy of Swinerton Builders

The project team was charged with creating an innovative office environment inside a former big-box retail building.

2012 Award of Merit

Renovation/Restoration Category

Google Boulder Phase 2

Boulder, Colo.

Google's Boulder, Colo., office features several unique-to-Colorado spaces. The full-size commercial kitchen serves an employee café and gathering area that mimics the area's famous Red Rocks Amphitheater, a 7,800-linear-ft mountaineering rope structure encloses a "huddle room" and a 1970s Volkswagen bus functions as a company conference room.

The project team was charged with creating this unusual corporate environment inside a former big-box retail building in the heart of downtown Boulder. Green features include natural light harvesting through Solatubes, energy-recovery HVAC units and improved indoor environmental quality from low-VOC-emitting materials.

Key Players

Owner: Google Inc., Boulder, Colo.

Architect: RNL, Denver

General Contractor: Swinerton Builders, Denver and San Francisco

MEP Engineer: MKK, Greenwood Village, Colo.

Entry submitted by Swinerton Builders