Green corporate headquarters designed and constructed to keep employees connected to the outdoors

Operable windows in each office, natural day-lighting through clerestory pavilions, atria and skylights, bridges and garden spaces linking buildings, office balconies, and hundreds of trees, including 80-ft.-tall redwoods and a heritage oak tree, bring VMware’s vision to life. According to Kevin Burke, director of practice for William McDonough + Partners, design architect for the project, VMware wanted to create a work environment that enhanced people’s connections to each other and the outdoors.

The result is a 460,000-sq.-ft. office complex, consisting of six buildings to house an executive area, data center, full-service cafeteria and fitness facility, and a 120,000-sq.-ft., two-story, post-tensioned concrete parking garage—all nestled across 37 acres of hilly Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto, CA.

The project was designed to preserve the existing trees, conform to existing topography and retain storm water on-site through the use of bioswales and a bio-retention system. The buildings have individual office balconies overlooking a central courtyard, sports fields and a fire pit.

“VMware is truly a green company,” says Wally Hong, senior director of workplace resources for VMware. “Our products reduce the carbon footprint for a lot of other companies. We truly believe this campus espouses those same values.”

With millions of users and more than 100,000 customers of all sizes just 10 years after its founding, VMware is the world’s leading provider of virtualization solutions for servers and desktops. Customers of all sizes rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green.

Like the products produced, the VMware campus also was designed to target increased energy efficiency through the use of exterior sunshades, lighting controls and high-efficiency glazing. In addition, environmentally friendly material selections were implemented throughout, including reclaimed hardwood flooring saved from a Wisconsin barn once owned by Thomas Edison, and recycled materials from the demolition of the structures previously located on the site.

“VMware is truly a green company. Our products reduce the carbon footprint for a lot of other companies. We truly believe this campus espouses those same values.”

Wally Hong, senior director of workplace resources for VMware

“It’s been extraordinary working with VMware,” said Rob Westover, project manager for DPR. “The desire to create a unique and inspiring campus has been clear from the beginning, and the company’s commitment to making environmentally friendly decisions mirrors DPR’s own passion for high-performance green building. It’s been a great project.”

“DPR presented a strong project team throughout the project,” said Hong. They also have a strong services group, and by that I mean, cost estimating, LEED® or green knowledge, and specialty knowledge in photovoltaics. So, it wasn’t just the construction team that was strong; all these other ancillary services and resources made this project successful.We appreciate DPR’s approach to quality construction. They even had an early punchlist prior to TCO.”