Google Philippines (PH) has finally unveiled their new headquarters in the heart of the towering buildings of Taguig.
Google PH logo with the Philippine Jeepney
Google Philippines has already setup shop in the country in 2013 with 6 pioneer employees.
Now, with a team composing of almost 70 employees, they have move into their new office which highlights and embodies the Google innovative mindset mixed with the Filipino culture in terms of design, architecture, products, and even in customs.
Together with the Google communities and YouTube content creators, we were lucky to have been invited to the opening last January. So join us as we tour the coolest and geekiest office in the metro, the new Google Philippines Headquarters.
Office Lobby and Reception Area
As you enter the new HQ of Google Philippines, you are welcomed by the BIG Google letters mounted in a wall of rocks. The Google letters were designed based from the Philippine flag, even the 2nd ‘o’ was shaped as the Philippine Flag’s sun!
Google PH Reception Area
The desk is decorated with typical “binta“ (windows) that are usually found in traditional Spanish-inspired ‘bahay-na-bato’ homes, including one made of capiz shells. Adding to the rustic Pinoy theme are the glossed wooden floors.
The reception area also includes unique and comfortable sitting furnitures made by the world-renowned Filipino industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue.
Chairs by Kenneth Cobonpue, ‘The Yoda’ (red chair), and Chiquita (skyblue ottaman)
‘The Cabaret’, a love seat chair by Kenneth Cobonpue; The ‘selfie’ letter ‘G’
Since the Philippines was noted as one of the selfie capital in the world, that big letter ‘G’ up-top was placed there specifically for selfies. Easy to frame that low angle glam shot!
Just next to the Cobonpue’s love chair is the Philippine map mounted on one of the wooden walls. The map features a red Google map pin labeled ‘Manila, Philippines’, marking its territory and shouting ‘Yes, we’re here!‘.
Philippine map with ‘internet-of-things’ lights
The ‘Google’ logo and map border were designed with programmable LED lights made with collaborative efforts of the members of Google Developer Group Philippines (GDG PH) and Jumpsparc using Firebase platform. The LED colors can be easily changed by accessing a web page on one’s mobile phone or computer. These lights were specifically set-up for the 2-day grand opening event.
Watch these programmable LED lights in full-action, as it changes colors with a press of a button on your phone!
Event Hall
Salu-salo Room
The Salu-salo room is the audio-video room or event hall of the Google Philippine office. Designed for seminars, workshops and conferences, which can accommodate around 25 seated guests but the walls are collapsable to the next room, the ‘Cafe Fiesta‘.
For the grand opening, the room was decorated with ‘abanico’ or hand-held fans with the Google-colors to give that festive vibe!
Gabriel Roxas, Google PH Country Marketing Manager, and Jolly Estaris, Google Industry Manager, have announced the new addition of 188 local sites to the Google Street View. This initiative is part of their efforts in digitizing and providing online content to the public for FREE.
Here’s a video of Google Street View demo of the Small Lagoon and Big Lagoon in Palawan, using Google Cardboard.
Pantry and Dinning
Cafe Fiesta
‘Cafe Fiesta’ is the spacious and relaxing dinning and pantry area of the new Google PH office. Employees can easily grab a bite or sip a good cup of coffee, or just sit-back and relax to enjoy metro skyline.
Decorated on the one of the walls of ‘Cafe Fiesta’ are a couple of typical Pinoy sayings or slangs such as ‘Keribels’, ‘The More the Manyer’, ‘Traffic sa EDSA’, ‘Good Knows Hudas not Pay’, ‘Basta Driver Sweet Lover’, and ‘Tom Jones’ just to name a few.
Sumptuous dinner provided by Google’s in-house Chef
Cereals and muesli for breakfast
Prunes, pistachio and dates for quick nibbles and snacks
A set menu and beverages are provided daily for FREE by Google, so not to hassle its employees to run out for breakfast, lunch or merienda. Google for sure knows how to take care of their employees!
R ‘n R (the Play) Area
Like most tech and forward-thinking companies, they have allocated an activity or play area for their employees.
Androidfied poster of Manny Pacquio
Located just next to ‘Cafe Fiesta’, the recreation area is where the employees can enjoy a quick game of ping-pong or perhaps throw some balls into the full-sized basketball ring. To lessen the noise, the walls are creatively padded with foam.
A full-sized ping-pong table
The walls are also decorated with Androidfied portraits of Philippine sport legends such as Eric Buhain, Paeng Nepomuceno, Lydia de Vega, and of course, Manny Pacquiao.
Employees can also enjoy a couple of tabletop or boardgames from their shelf.
Tabletop games – 7 Wonders, Game of the General, Cranium
For the rest of the tour, the event guests were also allowed to go into the meetings rooms, workstation area and the ‘Inay’ room. The ‘Inay room’ is a lactorium which is specially designed as a private space for breastfeeding moms. These areas are for authorized-personnel only, thus, photo or video captures are a big No-No!
By the way, upon arriving guests are asked to sign-in using ‘go/guest’ machine. You just need to type in your name, the name of your Google host, and presto! your guest badge is printed.
Google’s Guest Registration booth
Just take note, you need to have that badge with you in all times while you are in the Google PH office. You also need to sign-out by scanning the guest badge again, and drop-it off in that slot below before leaving.
So, which among the awesome areas is your favorite? Feel free to share your choice, and comments below.
And for those interested and looking for oppurtunity to work in Google Philippines, kindly visit google.com/careers.