As Fremont readies itself for Class A office along Innovation Way in the Warm Springs Innovation District, we are gaining inspiration from the Silicon Valley office boom which has brought a whole new level of architecture, sustainability, and employee amenities to historically industrial areas. This summer, SPUR hosted several events featuring the new “model campus” to showcase office building trends.
The new Samsung campus sits at the mega intersection of Tasman and North First Streets, yet allows foot traffic to flow through the site.

Experts from SPUR’s all-star architecture panel, featuring Gensler, HOK, and NBBJ, all agreed that key themes such as experience, community, lifestyle, and amenities are driving workplace design. Gensler’s Christine Laing coined the phrase, “Flat. Fast. Fun.” that sums up the goals of the new corporate campus.

  • Flat — Eliminate as many floors as possible. Large floor plates provide flexibility and proximity, and prevent colleagues from feeling like they are on separate planets.
  • Fast — Buildings are expected to be “high-performance” in all senses, from energy efficiency to wellness to socially conscious.
  • Fun — Gone is the notion of work-life balance. People expect a certain quality of life at work, too. Good food and coffee are a must, and many are adding personal services, access to outdoor experiences, and proximity to urban environments when possible.

We are clearly at a crossroads for campus development and wondering what the future holds. While projects are definitely trending toward “activity-based settings” (i.e., urban), large floor plates are still incredibly important for functionality. So, what to do? HOK’s Steve Morton suggests that the “hybrid campus” may be the prevailing typology — environments that can accommodate large floor plates, but also offer important amenities like active streetscapes and transit connections. (Did someone say Warm Springs?!)
The Samsung buildings are notable for their texture – presenting a silicon chip affect.

For good reason, the SPUR events focused a lot of attention on the new Samsung campus on North First Street in San Jose.

It’s a pretty sure bet that when the North San Jose Plan was being envisioned, Samsung’s project would have checked every box in terms of aspirational goals. It’s dense at 1 million square feet. It’s unique. It’s transit-connected. And, it’s LEED Silver. Its presence on the gateway corner of Tasman and North First Street reinforces the urban aesthetic. Parking is tucked away behind the building, and the building mass is mostly above the first floor which creates a ginormous breezeway that pulls people through the site in all directions. And, there’s a bit of trickery too. Although the campus translates as one building, it’s actually two towers connected by bridges.
Employee amenities are abundant at Samsung, including a gym with a view.

Among the most notable architectural features of the building are the separations between building floors. Think of a layer cake. Instead of frosting, there are beautiful gardens in between (and on the top and bottom) that allow all employees access to outdoor space no matter what floor they are on. However, because of different textures on the outside panels, the overall effect is moresilicon chip than chocolate cake.
Employee amenities are abundant at Samsung, including a gym with a view.

Employee amenities are abundant at Samsung — a beautiful wood-encased cafeteria that seats 800 people, a gym with a view, sports fields, retail stores, and more. But the greatest amenity of all is the availability of transit connections — Light Rail, ACE train, and coming soon — BART.
The Samsung cafeteria, clad in natural wood, seats 800.