Nvidia recently opened up its 750,000 sq ft Voyager building. Consumer electronics news site CNet enjoyed access to the “colossal new building” which forms a major part of Nvidia’s Santa Clara HQ.
With the completion of Voyager, joining the similarly impressive Endeavor, the office, meetings, and conference space have effectively been doubled. You may have twigged – yes, these two massive structures are named after Star Trek starships.
There was talk of Voyager and Endeavor being joined by a footbridge, wittily named the SLI Bridge, but that isn’t mentioned in CNet’s description. Between the two massifs, we see a four acre garden area with a trellis structure above dotted with solar panels. There are gaps in the trellis to provide light and shade for a plentiful array of benches, tables, and other social spaces beneath. In some images, you will see raised circular meeting ‘nests’ too.
Venturing into Voyager, a visitor can see the ‘base camp’ reception area. This area sits at the foot of a ‘mountain’ structure which has several tiers, interspersed with gardens, seating areas, cafes, offices, and so on. The mountain doesn’t quite reach the pinnacle of the roof giving an impression of a big and airy open space – though you are indoors. The roof is interspersed with triangular natural light cutouts, which will be appreciated by the vegetation and humans alike.
The move away from boxy cubicle structures and work life permeates the whole building. Apparently, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang wanted every employee working in Voyager to have a view, and work among “living walls, natural light, and towering windows.” There are abundant outside and shared gathering spaces for working out of any allocated personal office space too.
There is an interesting reason for the impressive new Voyager building existing, other than being an HQ to impress in the manner and scale of rivals like Google, Oracle, and Apple. The space should entice employees who have become ingrained in WFH back to the office some more, and help Nvidia gain new talent – and keep them on board. However, the CNet report didn’t mention one of the biggest draws of a welcoming workplace – the quality of the cafeteria.
For more pictures of Voyager, you can check out the source article. Nvidia has a gallery of renders and photos of both Voyager and Endeavor, too.