A ‘darker green’ for tech campuses

Silicon Valley Tech Giants Plan Super-Green Campuses – a number of high tech companies (Apple, Google, Facebook, Samsung, Nvidia) are planning corporate campuses in California that, in addition to being designed by big name architects, go beyond the standard requirements for sustainability in new buildings.

Apple’s campus, designed by Norman Foster, will be energy independent.  Facebook’s western extension, designed by Frank Gehry, will have a “parklike roof complete with mature oak trees.”  The NBBJ-designed Google campus (image shown here) “will restore 8 acres of wetlands” and may recycle its own sewage.

Trees, green parking, green roofs, water recycling, native plantings, some prefab construction – all of these are being considered during the planning stages of each project.  Interesting also that none of them (at least as mentioned in this article) are going after LEED Platinum.

Update:  But see this on Treehugger – Let’s stop calling the new headquarters for Apple, Facebook and Google “Green”: Look at the parking ratios.  Thanks to an RT @shamit.

The parking ratios tell the true story: It’s just another gas-guzzling suburban office park.