6 ms·
It's common for Google offices to have gyms and pianos?!
by decaffjoe 3y ago
It's common for Google offices to have gyms and pianos?!
- dilyevsky 3y agoGyms yes, pianos - only really big/fancy ones like MV, Zurich, London, etc
- bigmanwalter 3y agoEven some smaller ones too. The Google Montreal office has an excellent music room!
- asdfman123 3y agoIn my experience nearly every Google campus has a music room, and nearly all of them have at least a weighted keyboard. In the Bay Area there are a lot of acoustic pianos available. There's even a special building that has like 12 practice rooms, each with an acoustic piano.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- cbarrick 3y agoGoogle Pittsburgh has a music room. We're definitely a smaller office.
- paddez 3y agoA few of the offices even have a pool (Google Dublin, and soon Google London) Because the buildings are usually located in very central city locations - I've often used the offices as a way to kill time til' check-in opens for hotels after a long-haul flight (grab food, caffeinate, have a shower, etc) Recently I took a night train between Stockholm and Copenhagen. Showered in the Stockholm office, walked 5 minutes to the train station, slept, woke up in Copenhagen, grabbed a hearty breakfast in the CPH office. It's a little perk that is honestly vastly underestimated
- itronitron 3y agoI assume the data centers get to have heated pools
- philsnow 3y agoYouTube's San Bruno office (well, the Gap building at 901 Cherry) has a gym and pool. It's also bright, airy, and did I mention bright? So much natural lighting, it would be a shame if you had a super glossy monitor and no way to block glare 4 hours out of the day. I got a tour one time of some of the less-visible infrastructure of the building. There is a huge concrete slab under the building that acts as a heat bank, and somewhere there are windcatchers (I don't see them in aerial photographs) which funnel air over the concrete before it goes into the interior. This keeps the inside cool in hot weather and warm in cool weather, without an active air conditioning system. There are pictures and diagrams of some of the above features here https://mcdonoughpartners.com/projects/901-cherry-offices/ https://mcdonoughpartners.com/projects/901-cherry-offices/ . It's also nestled in the 280/380 interchange, so my commute very often took me up and back down on 280, which is probably my favorite stretch of road in the world. I grew up in the south bay, a stone's throw from 280, and driving up and down 280 has always been relaxing for me, even when there's (somehow) traffic. In retrospect, I didn't fully appreciate that office. Thanks for the 5-minute reminisce.
- dgacmu 3y agoGoogle Pittsburgh has (or, had, I haven't been there for four years) a Theremin. Not sure if that counts. :-)
- zirak 3y agoA friend who works there reported that there's currently no theremin. It seemed to have been someone's personal theremin, and they took it with them when they left. However, it sparked an interest in having a theremin - so perhaps it'll make a return!
- Nicholas_C 3y agoThe HQ has a halfpipe (https://ocramps.com/blogs/builds-installations/google-headquarters-2022 https://ocramps.com/blogs/builds-installations/google-headqu...)
- Rebelgecko 3y agoOften just an electric keyboard but yeah
- 1123581321 3y agoIn school, I did a research project on grand pianos in the lobbies of tech companies. Google was one of the few whose public relations refused to comment, but a helpful engineer I pulled out of the phone tree did ask around the MV office with my set of questions.