Everyone's favourite search giant Google is looking at expanding its Mountain View headquarters with a massive new building, the first specifically commissioned by the company.



The new section of the Google campus is expected to add approximately 60,000 square metres of space to the 400,000 square metres that Google already has in the area giving them a much-needed extension as their staff numbers continue increase along with the scope of the company. They have already sprawled into 65 buildings in Mountain View in a mile long strip along Charleston Road.



To design the project Google has brought in Ingenhoven Architects, who have yet to reveal the design but they have done notable work on a number of cutting edge buildings with elegant glazing, clean modernist lines, and the latest eco-hugging features. Whether the new Googleplex will also have such features as an extending periscope to track passersby and add to a database remains to be seen.



The first step of the project has been the move by Google to secure the lease on the site having paid $30 million to cover the next 53 years. At the same time, Google has tried to get more involved in masterplanning the general neighbourhood on the east of Highway 101 and are trying to encourage the development of it into a mixed-use urban district that will have housing and shops.



With the personal attachments that many in the top of the company have to the area, it's hardly surprising they are seeking to invest in the urban fabric so heavily. One day perhaps Mountain View could even be known as Google View if the current rate of expansion continues.



The outline planning application for the Googleplex extension could be surfacing as soon as later this month, with work beginning early next year.