I toured Google's new $2.1 billion office in NYC and it's like an all-inclusive wellness resort — see inside

Entrance of Google's new New York headquarters
Google's St. John's Terminal serves as the NYC headquarters for the company's global business organization.
  • In February, Google unveiled its New York City headquarters at Hudson Square. 
  • Madeline Park visited the brand-new office and felt it was like an all-inclusive wellness resort.
  • Here are 15 of the coolest things about the office that stood out to her.

Google welcomed employees to its brand new $2.1 billion office in February in the Hudson Square neighborhood of New York City.

Called St. John's Terminal, the building is 12 stories high and was built on top of a rail terminal from the 1930s.

My friend, who works at Google, invited me to check out the new building as their guest during opening week.

Here are the coolest amenities I saw that make this office feel almost like an all-inclusive wellness resort.

1. The Great Hall

Several people sit in the Great Hall Work Lounge at Google's new New York headquarters
Google's Great Hall felt expansive.

Once I got past security, I was shocked by the sheer amount of space in The Great Hall work lounge.

The lounge has super tall ceilings, cozy furniture, and a café where you can grab drinks like espresso, matcha, coffee, and chai with breakfast — all for free.

I got an Americano, a mini egg salad sandwich, a mini ham and Swiss sandwich, and a smoked lake trout tartine.

An Americano in a mug, and a mini egg salad sandwich, a mini ham and swiss sandwich, and a smoked lake trout tartine on a plate.
Park grabbed a free breakfast and coffee at Google's café.

2. The fun furniture

A yellow chair with two stools shaped like bulldogs on either side
The furniture might be a mix of affordable big-box pieces and custom-made designer pieces.

The chairs, in particular, caught my eye. They were super vibrant and playful.

I did a quick Google Image search and discovered that the furniture might be a mix of designer and retail. There's a nearly identical-looking bulldog stool online that goes for under $90, and the yellow chair looks like a piece called "Klara," made by Spanish designer and architect Patricia Urquiola.

3. The fully-equipped gym

Treadmills and weights in the Google gym
The gym feels airy and spacious.

An entire section of the building is dedicated to the Recreation Center. It has amenities like a spin studio, yoga room, martial arts studio, a separate space for personal training, and even a coach's office for instructors.

4. The spin studio

Cycling bikes in the spin studio
There are 19 spin bikes in the private studio.

Google offers weekly spin classes in the private spin studio.

5. The yoga studio

Yoga studio at Google office
Google's private yoga studio.

The natural wood yoga studio is right around the corner from the gym and has a calming glow of light.

6. This foot-washing station

Food washing station with towels
The foot-washing station in the Google office.

The foot-washing station has a little bench you can sit down on, along with fresh towels.

7. The martial arts studio

Martial arts studio at Google office
The martial arts studio is fully padded.

Next to the yoga studio, there is a fully padded and matted martial arts studio.

8. The massage room and recharge room

Two Hyperice massage guns
The rooms come fully equipped with massage guns.

The rooms have various percussive and compression therapy devices.

9. "The Shop" of Google merch

Mannequins wearing hats at entrance of Google merchandise shop
There's a shop that has all types of Google merch.

Next to the lobby café, there's a dedicated shop full of Google, Android, and YouTube merch. The fitting room alone is larger than the size of my college dorm room.

Shirts, bags, and other merchandise in the Google merchandise store
"The Shop" looks like a legitimate store.

The items at the store ranged from T-shirts ($30), jackets (~$100), tumblers ($15), and children's books.

10. Google-branded pet accessories

Leashes, toys, and pet accessories at Google merch store
There are Google-branded leashes and collars.

There were even pet accessories branded with the Google logo.

11. The micro kitchens

One of Google's micro kitchens with a variety of snacks
One of many snack stations at Google.

Google's snack stations come equipped with a $20,000 La Marzocco espresso machine for coffee snobs, a $6,000 digital coffee brewer for the non-coffee snobs, a pile of fresh fruit, and drawers full of snacks.

12. The cafeterias and free food

Google's vegan kitchen
This cafeteria felt bright and airy with its beautiful interior.

The actual cafeterias at Google's new office are the ultimate benefit and charm of working here. This cafeteria, which is one of many, is a fully vegan kitchen with a beautiful interior and unlimited, sophisticated vegan dishes.

For lunch, I ate a whipped ricotta and beet tartine, a celeriac schnitzel with sauce Gribiche, and sweet potato kimbap with a side of berries. It was all vegan and very delicious.

Vegan whipped ricotta and beet tartine, celeriac schnitzel with sauce Gribiche, sweet potato rolls, and a side of berries
Park grabbed a fully vegan lunch at one of the cafeterias.

13. The bathrooms

Google's all-gender bathroom with floor-to-ceiling windows
The bathrooms felt extremely luxurious.

The bathrooms are an amenity in itself. Google's 12th-floor all-gender bathroom has a view of the NYC skyline with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Each stall is equipped with feminine product dispensers and full-length mirrors (but alas, no bidet).

14. The coworking spaces

Colorful coworking space with beanbag chairs and fake trees
This coworking space is called "ROYGBIV," an acronym for the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

The best part of the office was looking into all the coworking spaces.

Google says it designed the office so that teams are assigned to different "neighborhoods" or spaces in the office — employees don't have assigned desks, so there are a lot of communal and coworking spaces.

One of the coworking spaces, with tables and couches and decorated with artwork of flowers
One of many coworking spaces in Google's new office.

Each coworking space is decorated with a theme. I can see how the expansive ceilings and beautifully designed spaces inspire employees to leave their homes and come into the office.

15. The view of the Hudson River

Google office St. John's Terminal Hudson River
Google's St. John's Terminal office sits right on the Hudson River.

And finally, the view of the Hudson River from the building is breathtaking.

The Google Office at St. John's Terminal is so big that I didn't get to explore all of it.

It was opening week, and already the office was bustling with employees and visitors like me.

Although there were a lot of people, Google seemed to have created enough space dedicated for just about everything to bring up the collaborative energy, efficiency, and even good mood of the employees.

If I worked here, I would want to show up every day.

Madeline Park is a food content creator who shares her recipes and writing on Cafe Maddy.

Read the original article on Business Insider


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