Google installation 'The Orb' offers space to contemplate and communicate
Google's mesmerising installation 'The Orb' encourages engagement for both the public and employees, offering a welcomed moment of distraction

The Orb, a new pavilion in Google’s Charleston East Campus, mesmerises and captivates. The installation, conceived as an ‘anchoring artwork’ for the tech giant, began life as an international, open competition for architects and artists organised by Burning Man on behalf of Google. The result, selected out of 45 semi-finalist proposals during a six-month process including a public vote, is set at the entrance of the company’s Mountain View, California complex. Designed by New York computational design experts The Very Many, led by founder and architect Marc Fournes, it elegantly marks the point where public and private space intersect.
'The Orb', Google HQ pavilion by The Very Many, USA
Standing tall and dramatic in its twisting, organic shapes that span 10m in height, the piece is made out of an ultra-thin, self-supported, aluminium shell structure in a crisp white hue. Its folds and myriad of tiny perforations create an intricate play of light and shadow. The ‘puzzle structure’s’ slender pieces were laser cut and powder coated in Europe and shipped to California during the pandemic – a logistical challenge in itself, Fournes points out.
Sat comfortably in the open plaza, the structure is meant as a moment of ‘productive distraction.’ ‘Underneath the airy and acrobatic minimal surface of The Orb, we carve out a moment of shade, where you can slow down even as you remain connected. Inside, the riveted surface and non-linear environment beckons attention and distracts you from your devices,’ the architect explained. ‘We call it “visual wandering” -- the journey your eye takes to understand an unfamiliar space. It’s our meditative challenge to the viewer, to figure out how it comes together, to see the continuities across parts, and to discover new details while finding unique perspectives each time you return.’
The newly unveiled commission was awarded to The Very Many in 2018. It makes the most of Fournes’ extensive experience in computational design, honed at architecture practices such as SOM, Ross Lovegrove and Zaha Hadid Architects, which blurs the boundaries between art and architecture.
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Caribbean cool meets mid-century glamour at this new LA hotspot
From golden mirrored chambers to jerk-spiced tomahawk steaks, Lucia reimagines Afro-Caribbean dining and design
-
Tour this fire-resilient minimalist weekend retreat in California
A minimalist weekend retreat was designed as a counterpoint to a San Francisco pied-à-terre; Edmonds + Lee Architects’ Amnesia House in Napa Valley is a place for making memories
-
Love, community, anti-gay laws: the queer African artists redefining visibility through portraits
In honour of Pride Month, Ugonnaora Owoh speaks to three artists on African queer legacies and their optimism in advocating for queer rights through art
-
Tour this fire-resilient minimalist weekend retreat in California
A minimalist weekend retreat was designed as a counterpoint to a San Francisco pied-à-terre; Edmonds + Lee Architects’ Amnesia House in Napa Valley is a place for making memories
-
A New Zealand house on a rugged beach exemplifies architect Tom Kundig's approach in rich, yet understated luxury
This coastal home, featured in 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses', a new book launch in the autumn by Monacelli Press, is a perfect example of its author's approach to understated luxury. We spoke to Tom Kundig, the architect behind it
-
Tour architect Paul Schweikher’s house, a Chicago midcentury masterpiece
Now hidden in the Chicago suburbs, architect Paul Schweikher's former home and studio is an understated midcentury masterpiece; we explore it, revisiting a story from the Wallpaper* archives, first published in April 2009
-
The world of Bart Prince, where architecture is born from the inside out
For the Albuquerque architect Bart Prince, function trumps form, and all building starts from the inside out; we revisit a profile from the Wallpaper* archive, first published in April 2009
-
Is embracing nature the key to a more fire-resilient Los Angeles? These landscape architects think so
For some, an executive order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom does little to address the complexities of living within an urban-wildland interface
-
Hop on this Fire Island Pines tour, marking Pride Month and the start of the summer
A Fire Island Pines tour through the work of architecture studio BOND is hosted by The American Institute of Architects New York in celebration of Pride Month; join the fun
-
A Laurel Canyon house shows off its midcentury architecture bones
We step inside a refreshed modernist Laurel Canyon house, the family home of Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin of And And And Studio
-
A refreshed Rockefeller Wing reopens with a bang at The Met in New York
The Met's Michael C Rockefeller Wing gets a refresh by Kulapat Yantrasast's WHY Architecture, bringing light, air and impact to the galleries devoted to arts from Africa, Oceania and the Ancient Americas