Google, Spruce Goose

The landmark Spruce Goose Hangar in Playa Vista, California is a 450,000+ SF, four-level “building-within-a-building” that was developed inside the seven-story, 750-foot-long historic wooden structure. Built by Howard Hughes in 1943 for the construction of the Hercules IV airplane (aka the “Spruce Goose”), the hangar now comprises office space on an expansive site with contaminated groundwater, a legacy of the site’s past. The landscape design employs biophilia design with lushly planted groves for the interior employee amenity spaces. The exterior site utilizes the phytoremediation planting of hybrid Poplar trees to stitch together the Google Playa Vista campus and bring a fresh perspective to workplace design through the venue’s adaptive reuse.

about the project

The landscape design for the interior Spruce Goose Hangar included lush, mature palm groves with custom designed planters, irrigation and interior grow lights. The exterior landscape, a striking contrast, consisted of the planting rows of 700 phytoremediation bare root Hybrid Poplar “poles” around 6-8 feet high. These cost effective but high-performance poplar trees have active TCE Phytoremediation Systems complete with TCE degrading native poplar bacterial endophytes. Planted at an effective density for a rich experience while actively treating the contaminated groundwater – with deep root growth down to the existing groundwater and immobilized the contamination through the evapotranspiration from the fast tree growth.

Erik led the design as Principal while at TLS Landscape Architecture. Images courtesy of TLS Landscape Architecture.

Photo credit: Google images by: Connie Zhou, ZGF Architects and Intrinsyx Environmental