Image courtesy of Gensler and Kilograph

In a culture that seems constantly in thrall to Apple, it’s easy for the designers of our gadgets’ tiny guts to get short shrift. Who’s going to notice the nano guy when Facebook, Apple, and Google loom so large in Silicon Valley? No longer content to sit on the sidelines, computer-chip maker Nvidia—which is also, coincidentally, a supplier to Apple—has found a way to compete without stooping to nerd-to-nerd battle. Instead, the Santa Clara–based firm has outsourced the matter to Gensler, which is now locked in a race with Foster + Partners to land the craziest sci-fi HQ in Silicon Valley by 2016. Read more! 

Image courtesy of Gensler and Kilograph

Apple may be the first tech firm to commission a spaceship for its headquarters in Silicon Valley, but Nvidia has leapfrogged ahead by planning a pair of triangle-encrusted office buildings that resemble a giant extraterrestrial settlement. Unlike Apple’s giant donut, Nvidia’s geometric motif refers to the basis of its business. “The design harmonizes smart functionality and a shape that connects with and inspires our employees—a triangle, the fundamental building block of computer graphics,” Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang writes, referring to the role of the triangle shape in the rasterization of graphics.

The Nvidia compound is scheduled to break ground in June, and the company projects a completion date of July 2015. Apple originally announced its spaceship opening for the same year, but recent delays will likely set them back to mid-2016.

Nvidia’s current building.

[via Wired]

by Lamar Anderson

posted in New Projects

tagged apple, california, corporate headquarters, Foster + Partners, Gensler, Nvidia, office building, office building low rise, silicon valley

more articles by Lamar Anderson