Master Plan + Phase 1

SOM’s master plan for the Silicon Valley headquarters of the gaming company Electronic Arts (EA)focused on density and connectivity. The programmatic needs dictated that development would proceed in multiple stages.

For the first phase, SOM designed and completed a pair of contemporary six- and eight-story office buildings and a parking garage at the site’s southeast corner. With informal gathering spaces and open layouts, the low-rise structures encourage creative collaboration among game developers — one of the company’s top priorities.

Sited between the two offices is a commons building with ample employee amenities, including a cafeteria, gymnasium, and fitness center. Built with rigorous adherence to the project budget, the campus buildings express EA’s vitality and ingenuity through the innovative use of durable local materials such as colored concrete and special aggregate resin in the precast facade. Moreover, off-the-shelf glass garage doors allow an entire wall of a cafe to open up to a central quad.

Phase 2

The highly customized workplace for the second phase of Electronic Arts’s corporate headquarters is a direct response to the tremendous intensity with which the company develops its video games.

Evoking the spirit of Silicon Valley’s warehouses, the main studio building is loft-like in character and features a two-story, glass-enclosed lobby that doubles as an informal meeting space. Notable for its integration of energy-efficient design components, the building is largely concrete, which drastically reduces the project’s overall embodied energy. Advanced lighting and climate-control strategies further reduce energy consumption. Adjacent to this studio lies a spacious auditorium designed for the testing and demonstration of new games.

The project follows completion of the SOM-designed phase one, which entailed construction of two office buildings, a commons building with a fitness center and cafeteria, and a central lawn that serves as a focal point for the entire development. SOM designed the master plan for the EA Campus.