NVIDIA Corporation

Santa Clara, California
Architect: Gensler
Contractor: Devcon Construction Inc.

Project Overview:

Designed by Gensler and located in Santa Clara, California, the new headquarters for NVIDIA exhibits a theme representative of the basic graphical component of modern software rendering systems: triangles. This 250,000sq ft (23,200 sq. m), 2 story structure is capped with a sculptural roof composed of triangular facets, allowing vaulted ceilings and triangular skylights. The interior office space corresponds to the outer appearance and layout of the building by continuing the triangular theme. With large open areas, oversized platforms and a central workspace surrounded by a polygon shaped “Heart”, the interior is an efficient and stimulating work environment.

The “Heart” of the building, provided by ELEMENT, is a central structure in the form of a partial geodesic sphere, 222 feet (68m) in diameter and 52 feet (16m) high. Weighing over 250,000 lbs (114,000 kg) this structure continues the triangular theme with major and minor triangles of steel and perforated aluminum. Comprised of structural steel tubing formed into 63 different triangular support frames, these frames were then clad with 5,000 solid and perforated aluminum panels. The entire system is supported from the concrete superstructure by a seismically engineered mounting system allowing movement in 3 directions.

LEED Certification:
  • Built to Achieve Gold Certification
Key Contribution by ELEMENT:
  • Materials: Structural steel, steel, aluminum, machined components.
ELEMENT Services:
  • Design Review
  • Preliminary materials, manufacturing, engineering, scheduling and budget estimation
  • Presentation of options and solutions, including schedule, scope and budgeting aspects of various options
  • Engineering analysis, calculations and submittals
  • 3D Modeling
  • Design, fabrication and installation options and analysis
  • Scheduling
  • Prototyping and Samples
  • Mockups
  • Fabrication
  • Staging and Delivery

Awards:

  • Office/Retail/Mixed Use, 2018, ENR California Best Projects
  • Milestone Project of the Year, 2018, Silicon Valley Structures
  • Finalist – Workplace, 2018, Innovation by Design Awards
Select Publications:
  • “NVIDIA: Gensler”, 13 Jan 2016, Architect Magazine
  • “Check out Nvidia’s new polygon headquarters from the air” 22 Aug. 2016, Silicon Valley Business Journal
  • “Gensler Designs New Silicon Valley Headquarters for Nvidia” 21 Feb. 2013, ArchDaily
  • “Gensler Triangulates a New Santa Clara Headquarters for NVIDIA”, 21 Feb. 2013, The Architect’s Newspaper
  • Nvidia Plans New Office Campus in Santa Clara, California”, 20 Feb. 2013, Bloomberg
  • “NVIDIA building a case for virtual reality in Architecture”, 3 June 2016, San Francisco Chronicle