Intuit Corporate Campus

After more than a decade of collaboration through a multi-phase project, financial software developer Intuit transformed a 1980s suburban office park into a unique, sustainable corporate campus in Silicon Valley.

Holmes provided structural engineering services for the new Marine Way and Bayshore office buildings and related parking facilities on the Mountain View Campus. The buildings are classed as structural Occupancy Category III — providing increased seismic performance compared with standard structures. The LEED Platinum-certified office facilities offer an energizing, state-of-the-art workplace for 1,800 employees.

MARINE WAY

As the first of the two buildings constructed, the Marine Way building set the tone for the design intent to offer transparent, flexible workspaces that drive community connection. Large floor plates are organized into a variety of spaces, centered around a feature floating stair in the four-story atrium. To allow the atrium to serve as an “all hands” meeting forum accommodating 500 people, Holmes delivered a sophisticated design with a 90-foot truss enabling an open, column-free space.

Holmes also delivered a unique solution to the constraints presented by the trapezoidal site boundaries, utilizing cantilevered slabs to meet the ground floor setback requirements and maximize both square footage and building aesthetic. The lot lines prevented Intuit from placing a crane on a nearby road, so Holmes also designed a shoring scheme to support the crane on the Level One slab. The crane hauled precast concrete clerestory beams weighing 87,000 pounds each to span over a 49-foot skylight opening in the roof. During construction, Holmes also advised on the anchorage and bracing for a rooftop tent structure.

The Marine Way building includes one level of below-grade parking and an adjacent, stand-alone five-story parking garage topped with a photovoltaic roof to harness solar power. Due to height constraints and the required number of parking spaces, the parking garage was constructed below the water table. As a result, Holmes designed tension piles to hold the multiple-level basement down against hydrostatic uplift.

BAYSHORE

Building upon the open flexibility of the Marine Way office, the Bayshore building design further evolved to offer even more ways for employees to collaborate in a post-pandemic working environment. Unique cantilevered meeting rooms open onto the three-story open atria. “Living room” spaces and human-scaled “neighborhoods” offer flexible options for collaboration, focused work, and socialization.

After reviewing a number of structural design options, Holmes proposed a conventional flat slab concrete design for its spanning capabilities, ease of construction, higher floor-to-ceiling heights, future functionality, vibration control, and speed of construction. The use of post-tensioned concrete allowed for large spans, substantial slab cantilevers, and less material than mild steel. It also enabled the complex transfer structure necessary to support the discontinuous columns to achieve programming.

The Bayshore building includes one level of above-grade parking and is connected to — but seismically separated from — an adjacent parking structure with three levels of above-grade parking and one level of below-grade parking.

A CAMPUS DESIGNED WITH SUSTAINABILITY AT THE CORE

In support of the project’s sustainability goals, Holmes worked to reduce embodied carbon in the concrete mixes by utilizing CarbonCure technology. Holmes’ Life Cycle Assessments demonstrated that the Marine Way building achieved a 32% reduction in Global Warming Potential (kg CO₂ eq) compared to the typical concrete mix used in the Bay Area, and the Bayshore building achieved a 43% reduction. Additionally, 20% of project materials were sourced from within 500 miles of the site.

Ongoing design strategies were employed to enable ensure optimal indoor environmental quality, reduce water consumption and waste, expand the use of transit options, and ensure ongoing resource efficiency for years to come.