Google’s newest campus ‘Ananta’ is located in Mahadevapura. It will accommodate about 5,000 employees.
DH Photo/B K Janardhan.
The latest addition to Bengaluru’s cityscape is the lavish Google office, Ananta, on the Outer Ring Road.
‘Ananta’ translates to infinite in Kannada, and the name suits the structure — one of the largest office spaces built by the search engine giant outside of the USA. It was inaugurated on Wednesday. Spread over 1.6 million sq ft, the campus is located in Mahadevapura and is constructed by the Bagmane Group. It will house about 5,000 employees from various wings of Google such as Maps, AI, Android, Cloud and Google Pay.
Sustainability and accessibility
The project which started about six years ago is built by locally sourced materials and features art installations by more than 40 artists from across the country, shared Lavanya M K, general manager, real estate and workplace services, India.
While the brightly coloured office is aesthetically pleasing, the colours do serve a purpose — wayfinding. The textured walls and tactile flooring have been added to help the visually impaired. The sign boards too have
braille transcription.
Another feature worth mentioning is well-thought-out wheelchair accessibility.
The company aims to recycle 100% wastewater generated within the site and also harvests and harnesses over 1,000 litres of rainwater during the monsoons, shared Lavanya. Ananta also features India’s largest electro-chromic glass installation that helps in reducing electricity consumption, in addition to regulating the temperature inside.
As you walk through the main entrance, you will be led into an area called ‘Sabha’, an open space where employees can “collaborate and innovate together”.
Apart from work spaces, the 11-storied office space also has rejuvenation spaces for employees like an acupressure garden, a walking track, a sports facility, and an amphitheatre. This forms the wellness wing of the Bengaluru campus. A day care facility, a clinic, a multi-cuisine cafeteria, a gym and a spa are some of the other amenities available on campus.
Green haven to concrete jungle
Lavanya described the biophilic spaces they have created in and around the campus as an “ode to the Garden City”. To escape the chaos of the Outer Ring Road, a mini forest called ‘Aranya’ has been created.
Ironically, 20 years ago, when Google first began its operations in India, the space where their brand new building now stands, was a thick grove of eucalyptus trees. Additionally, the space also housed a storm water drain, and a pond visited annually by migratory birds.
Long before urban planning moved towards this part of the city and much before the Outer Ring Road was built, the entire stretch from Tin Factory to Marathahalli was occupied by wild trees.
A chapel near Marathahalli was the only building that was significantly visible. Today, its transformation into a concrete jungle — home to two massive tech parks and now a Google campus — continues to shock many old Bengalureans.The 1.6 million sq ft space opened its doors on Wednesday