PARC campus an
archetype for Silicon Valley
Outside Blends with Environment;
Inside Fosters Creative Egalitarianism.
Alan Hess, San Jose Mercury
News, May 23, 2004
When we decide to put
our landmarks on show, a major stop should
be the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) on
Coyote Hill Road.
PARC is an office building,
with long corridors and small offices. The
materials are acoustic tile ceilings, extruded
aluminum window frames, plate glass, precast
concrete panels. Nothing too extraordinary.
And yet these materials are arranged to encourage
invention. Out of these halls and offices
came the Graphic User Interface (GUI), networking
protocols, laser printing and scores of other
electronic leaps.
By 1970 when PARC was founded,
what would become Silicon Valley had become
even more sophisticated about how the workplace
environment could foster creativity. The interaction
of people from different disciplines is a
mysterious alchemy. You couldn't guarantee
the next leap in networking or hardware. The
best you could do is set up favorable conditions
and then let the magic happen. That's how
PARC's architecture plays a critical role.
Instead of a collection
of rectangular buildings spread around a flat
site, PARC is a single building shaped into
six wings nestled into the hill. Where River
Rouge overwhelmed its natural riverside setting,
Palo Alto's hillsides, oaks, sunlight and
bay views were seen as key to creating the
right work environment.
A local activist group,
the Committee for Green Foothills, insisted
on a high-quality design that would reduce
the building's impact on the landscape. So
PARC's original 125,000 square feet (additions
enlarged it to 203,000 square feet in 1982)
are virtually invisible from the road. From
the west entry it appears to be a one-story
building; the other two levels cascade down
the sloping site behind.
On each floor, each wing
houses a department. Impromptu encounters
in halls or stairwells can spur new ideas.
Obata balances the large building with a sense
of intimacy in the way people work together
-- another key concept in the Silicon Valley
workplace. The long, low forms and repeated
wings create a democratic space, where no
office is measurably more prestigious than
any other. This egalitarian aspect has become
a key part of Silicon Valley culture.
The concrete frame structure
allows office walls to be flexible; some departments
re-arrange their walls and spaces yearly.
Unlike the mighty Rouge,
this Silicon Valley icon is unassuming. It's
like a computer whose outer box doesn't divulge
the power, speed and significance of the work
going on inside.
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