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Ground Zero/Developing and Designing
the New Work World

Whatever you may wish to call it -- the New Millennium, the Network Age, the Global Info-Connectiveness or simply The 21st Century -- one thing is certain: The heart of it all is Silicon Valley. And now the expanding environs of the Greater Bay Area are rapidly developing into extensions of the thinking, planning and forward movement of this great time that has its roots in Silicon Valley. In the words of author Jean Huston, this "Jump Time" is accelerating the way we think, earn, drive and live.

alm

Some other projects now under way may provide the answer: In particular, Palm is developing not only a new facility, but also a new way of thinking about the work environment itself. In the words of John Igoe, vice president of Palm Real Estate Site Services, the work space at its new Sunnyvale campus will embody "Palm Zen" -- a simple, tasteful and elegant design, one that unites the strategies of sustainable design to "celebrate people and our connection to both the natural world and to each other"

The site plan itself is an urban response to the location, and is conceived hy architects, William McDonough + Partners, as a gateway to the city. The plan provides a transition from a highway edge to a pedestrian-oriented urban edge.

ES Architects & Engineers

In Redwood City, Pacific Shores Center broke ground earlier this year. A 107-acre camptts will house over 1.5 million square feet. But the real significance of the project is what went into the planning and creation of the master plan. "We envisioned an entirely new way to live and work, a place where employment, career, recreation, the environment and culture would all converge," comments Tom Gilman, DES Architects & Engineers. As such, Pacific Shores Center boasts over 50 acres of its site dedicated to open space, including community playing fields, bike and jogging paths, waterfront access and ample lawn space. Each of the ten buildings on campus is designed to accommodate the latest in smart building technology including clerestory windows for deep interior passive day-lighting; solar glass curtain walls and large light bays to provide office interior day-lighting.

"We see this site as the true center of the new economy; it is the most prime location for the entire Bay Area." says Peter Brandon vice president and project director of the Jay Paul Company, developer of Pacific Shores Center.

un Microsystems

Examples ot this new thinking are all around us, and they're not always 100 percent new construction projects, either. For example, Sun Microsystems is renovating a 1930's-generation college-style campus in Santa Clara (CA) of 11 buildings into a 1 million square foot state-of-the-art complex for 4,000 employees. Implementing a master plan developed by HOK, architects Bottom Duvivier of Redwood City (CA), are converting the Spanish-Mediterranean style campus into a new home for Sun's research and development teams.

Bill Agnello, vice president for Sun Microsystems Real Estate and The Work Place, sees Silicon Valley as needing to face "its growth challenges; however, it is, and will remain, the premier center of innovation for the Network Age." In renovating this landmark site, Sun Microsystems has preserved a valued property within the community including 800 fully mature trees and other landscaping and created a 15-acre public park. In so doing, Sun has addressed four vital goals: to use an in-fill site, to create open space, address historic preservation and to provide easy access to public transportation.

harles Schwab

Reflecting an entirely different approach is the new 600,000 square loot campus for Charles Schwab in Pleasanton, an East Bay suburb of San Francisco. With Phase A now complete, the Charles Schwab "Smart Community" will enable 3,000 employees to access their offices from BART via the Schwab Shuttle with the company providing travel vouchers for transport beyond the 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. window, The company additionally is planning a new day-care center on-site and will assist employees in locating van/car pools. Eventually, the new campus will also incorporate outdoor sporting spaces and an outdoor communal area by the time Buildings B, C and D are complete in 2001.

eople Soft

What's behind this radically new type of work setting? Clearly, it's the change in the way we all work. No longer a proverbial 9-to-5 world, many of the new economy companies -- specifically the dot-coms -- are up and on in the continuous business environment of 24/7/365. People work staggered shifts (some would simply say they work staggeringly long shifts); they telecommute, carpool, bicycle (and in California particularly, some skateboard or rollerblade); work portable equipment with Dick Tracy-like ease; fly around the planet with the calm of boarding a commuter train, and perhaps most amazingly of all, think nothing of it! Only 20 years ago this kind of futuristic workaday world seemed like so much sci-fi fantasy. And now, not only is it here, but it, too, is rapidly evolving into something different, something new and better.