Nvidia’s headquarters office was designed to increase productivity. Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
The US chip manufacturer Nvidia opened its “Voyager” office last year.
The 750,000 square meter space reflects the company’s philosophy of “no barriers and no borders”.
Business Insider spoke with the project’s lead architect.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by a real editor. We welcome feedback at the end of the article.
The chip manufacturer Nvidia has had a few successful years. Demand for the company’s GPU chips skyrocketed as the artificial intelligence fever swept the world.
The company was an early adopter of the AI trend and has gained a significant lead in producing chips used in thriving technologies like ChatGPT. The company’s valuation quickly rose to $1.2 trillion, an increase of nearly 250 percent this year.
One of the keys to Nvidia’s success may lie in its flat organizational structure. “When you move so quickly, you want to make sure that information flows through the company as quickly as possible,” said CEO Jensen Huang recently in an interview with the Harvard Business Review. Nvidia has fully embraced the flat structure and eliminated three or four levels of management to work as efficiently as possible, Huang said. Another key to the “no barriers, no boundaries” approach as Huang describes it is the company’s office.
The office was named after a Star Trek spaceship
Opened in early 2022, the headquarters in the city of Santa Clara, California, is an imposing 750,000 square meter building designed to increase employee performance in line with the company’s vision.
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“Voyager” is the name of the second building of the Nvidia branch in Santa Clara. Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
The building, called “Voyager,” was designed by the architectural firm Gensler — and yes, it was named after a “Star Trek” spaceship.
Hao Ko, the designer responsible for the project, told Business Insider that the idea for the office is “rooted in the idea that people do their best work when given choice.”
An outdoor workstation at Voyager. Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
The office offers employees a variety of spaces tailored to their individual needs – from individual spaces designed for focused work, mentorship or face-to-face meetings.
“A successful workplace must be a goal, not an obligation, so designing a comfortable space that reflects the company culture is also very important,” says Ko.
Elevated “bird nests” serve as meeting spaces. Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
Ko said his company’s research showed that collaboration was most effective when teams worked in the same spaces.
“The pandemic has reminded us that work can happen anywhere, but it has also reminded us that bringing people together inspires them to do their best work,” he said.
Diverse spaces offer employees a choice of environments. Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
Nvidia’s engineers were previously housed in traditional workstations, while other teams worked on different floors and even in different buildings. Gensler’s solution was to move all of Nvidia’s teams into one large room.
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However, the team faced certain issues regarding sound and light in such a large, open space.
The reception area of the “base camp”. Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
“We designed the shape of the roof to reflect sound without reverberation, and chose the ceiling material to absorb the noise,” explains lead architect Ko.
“It is also a challenge to distribute natural daylight evenly into a large space so that everyone can enjoy it. We solved this challenge by adding a variety of skylights to the roof, bringing people closer to the building’s glass facade and terracing the large floor panels,” he added.
The central hall of Nvidia is known as “Mountain.” Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
“The true innovation of the Voyager office is that the interiors create the feeling of working outdoors,” explains Ko.
“Inspired by the fact that Santa Clara has arguably one of the best climates in the world and that our backyards are an extension of our home lives, Nvidia challenged our team to create a workplace that harnesses the beauty and inspiration of the surrounding nature and it Allows people to work outdoors all day,” he said.
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Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
The “four-acre workspace” features parks and “treehouses” for gatherings, while shade-providing, solar-paneled trellises blend into the building’s structure.
The company also uses geographical nicknames to describe different areas of the building. The “mountain” staircase leads to upper floors with laboratory spaces, while along the building’s perimeter are “valleys” – naturally lit corridors that provide intimate meeting rooms and dining areas.
Natural light filters throughout the entire office space.
Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
Ko said future workspaces will place more emphasis on giving people the freedom to choose where they work and working towards healthier and more comfortable environments.
“By refining the design of the workplace based on how people use it, we will continue to drive greater innovation and a more resilient future,” he believes.
Nvidia’s headquarters was inspired by Star Trek. Jason O’Rear / Gensler San Francisco
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