You sense it right away when you step out of the elevator, a pervasive scent of juniper.

Google's new downtown Portland office is a stark contrast to the stereotype of an antiseptic tech workplace. Housed inside a century-old building that was the city's first skyscraper, Google seeks to bring the outside in, evoking another era of natural materials and old-fashioned tastes.

Eastern Oregon timber frames doorways and desks, hallways and "living wall" planters. Thick leather couches feature button tufting, and exposed brick in a hallway shows where two adjoining buildings combined to make a single office.

Google's new office

Some features of Google's new downtown Portland site.

* Free, catered breakfasts and lunch

* A bagel and sandwich bar

* Gourmet coffeemaker and fridge stocked with Stumptown Cold Brew, chilled teas, Zoi Greek Yogurt and (behind frosted glass, to make them less tempting) Cokes and Sprite

* Desks no farther than 20 feet from a window

* Bimonthly lunchtime Friday sessions focusing on arts, farming and cooking from Portland chefs and craftspeople

* Private nursing room with pump, sink and refrigerator

* Game room with foosball and kegerator

* "Living walls" with plants growing vertically

Layered on top of all that are all the conveniences and amenities to which contemporary tech workers have become accustomed - free, catered breakfasts and lunches; gourmet coffee, sodas and bottled teas, there for the taking; a bagel and sandwich bar; a three-tap kegerator and, of course, foosball. Google now has 40 people in an office with space to potentially accommodate 100.

The throwback design from Portland architects ZGF notwithstanding, Google's Portland office reflects the extent to which tech employers will go as they seek to lure software engineers in a fiercely competitive hiring market. With the tech economy booming (Oregon technology employment grew at its fastest rate in a decade last year), Google and others are going to some lengths to create welcome offices with amenities that make employees feel at home.

"It's a highly competitive market, so how do you get the smartest, most talented people? You provide them with certain perks," said Charlotte Fritz, a professor of industrial and organizational psychology at Portland State University.

Google won't talk about what goes on inside its Portland engineering office, US National Bank Block on Southwest Sixth Avenue. It won't identify any of the people who work there - or allow them to be photographed at work. But it did agree to show off its new digs, which it moved into in January - five years after Google established its Portland presence.

(The Portland engineering office is unrelated to Google Fiber's ongoing flirtation with the city. The fiber-optic service is near an official announcement on plans to offer high-speed Internet connections in the city. Clarification: While Google established the office independently of Google Fiber, some of Google Fiber's Portland employees do work in the office.)

Google's amenities are by no means outliers. Intel's massive new RA4 office building in Hillsboro comes with soaring ceilings, and outdoor deck and other features that make it a striking departure from the 1980s-style cubicle farm the chipmaker is known for.

This year alone, Daimler Trucks, Simple, Wacom and Navex Global have all opened shiny new corporate offices in the Portland area with high varying mixes of communal work areas, brightly lit work spaces and sweeping views.

The spate of new offices reflects the region's booming tech economy - Oregon tech jobs grew last year at their fastest rate in a decade. Google arrived in 2010 when it bought a Tualatin software company called Instantiations and moved it to an undistinguished downtown high-rise. When Google leased its new office last year it said it wanted an improved work space for its Portland employees.

Completely unstructured workplaces can sometimes produce distractions, said Fritz, the PSU professor. So a well-designed office gives employees flexibility to step out of the community periodically and focus (Google has small meeting rooms and work booths away from the main work areas.)

Overall, Fritz said natural light, communal work areas, games and other "fun" features make people feel more connected to their jobs. She said research shows such workers are more imaginative, collaborative and productive.

"If somebody creates a very positive work environment what they're saying is they actually care about me," Fritz said. "It makes the creative juices flow."

Note: This article has been updated to note the location of Google's office.

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway