microsoft | architecture | interiors

Microsoft South
The Silicon Valley Campus

Microsoft's objective to create a half million square foot campus in Silicon Valley to establish its presence with technology developers in the San Francisco Bay Area began in 1998. Quezada Architecture orchestrated the planning and design of the campus environment to serve a Silicon Valley culture by providing complete masterplanning, site design, architecture, interior architecture, and furniture specification services. The campus was completed in a record 18-month timeframe.

The architecture of the five building campus responds to Microsoft's intent to create a "timeless dignity" within a high-tech vernacular. The exterior core and shell buildings are constructed utilizing concrete tilt-up technology that allowed them to be built to meet an aggressive schedule. The innovative use of quality materials throughout the campus is not only cost and time satisfactory, many are environmentally sensitive certified sustainable products.

With amenities that include a satellite farm, dog park, electric-car recharging capabilities and access to wetland trails, the 32-acre ecofriendly complex is predicated on a design mission of sustainability. The private-office environment for over 1800 employees restricted the use of hardwood material throughout the interior design. Alternative certified sustainable wood product doors were utilized at all interior suites and rooms. Quezada Architecture worked extensively with focus groups and research staff to develop space efficiency through freestanding workstation furniture solutions. There are no hardwood conference tables or workspace surfaces on the campus. Sustainable wood products have been functionally and aesthetically substituted throughout. From lighting design to carpet manufacturers, a green program of sustainability and energy conservancy has contributed an added measure to the "Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus."

Site Analysis
Programming
Masterplanning
Site Design
Architecture
Interiors
Furniture
Signage & Graphics