Case Study: Google Delivers a Landmark Bay View Campus with Thornton Tomasetti’s Innovative Roof Design

Google sets western hemisphere roof lift record with Thornton Tomasetti

Google faced a challenge constructing the architecturally expressive, sweeping canopy roofs for its Bay View corporate campus on a fast-track schedule. The shallow inverted shell structures were not fully stiff until fully erected, making conventional construction methods unfeasible. Thornton Tomasetti was engaged to provide structural design and construction engineering services to overcome this.

Thornton Tomasetti developed an innovative solution, collaborating closely with the steel fabricator to optimize the roof design for assembly at ground level. The vendor devised a method to strand-jack the massive pre-assembled panels into place, which proved much more effective than craning. This approach set a Western Hemisphere record for the largest roof lift and helped ensure the project, which achieved LEED Platinum certification, stayed on schedule.

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