WRNS Studio Reimagines Ameswell Mountain View Complex

The new development manifests ideals of returning to nature and providing a better future for the City’s inhabitants with integrated landscape and campus-planning strategies.

San Francisco, CA (June, 2022) – WRNS Studio announces the completion of Ameswell Mountain View, a new, mixed-use workplace campus in the heart of Silicon Valley. The office building has been fully leased by Google. The new project reimagines two former underutilized parcels of land — one a service yard for the City of Mountain View, the other an abandoned Caltrans off-ramp — into a thriving neighborhood with world class work environments, lodging, dining, public amenities, and a regenerated riparian habitat. 

Flanked by I-85, I-101, and Moffett Boulevard, the development reaches out to the neighboring community and connects to the adjacent Stevens Creek trail which is utilized by the public for recreation and bicycle commuting. Organized around a major new landscaped public lawn, the new development includes an 5-story office building, the Ameswell Hotel, and an 822-stall parking structure. All three buildings were designed by WRNS Studio. The new development takes cues from Mountain View’s Precise Plan, manifesting its ideals of returning to nature and providing a better future for the City’s inhabitants with landscape and campus-planning strategies that offer public amenities and rebuild riparian habitat. 

Supporting a thriving live-work community, Ameswell Mountain View provides the convenient amenities and communal spaces desired by businesses, travelers and local residents. Running parallel to Stevens Creek, the office building features a roof deck and outdoor courtyard carefully tuned to be desirable to tech companies. The office building at Ameswell Mountain View has been 100% leased by Google. The 255 guestroom Ameswell Hotel fills the northeast corner of the development site and serves as a memorable gateway along the freeway into the City of Mountain View. The five-story hotel provides guests with significant views in most directions including to the nearby historic Moffett Airfield and the internal public lawn and courtyard. The hotel includes meeting rooms, a restaurant, bar, and an outdoor pool that are just as much an amenity to the hotel guests as nearby office workers. 

This highly visible development responds to surrounding well-trafficked corridors with animated facades that serve as the building’s public face. Each structure uses varying materials in a complementary, natural palette. The Ameswell Hotel uses plaster with a woodgrain printed porcelain panel accent with more vigorous patterning facing the freeway and a quieter courtyard façade that is capped with textured, stained zinc. The office building façade faces the interior courtyard and is primarily glass with wood accents, allowing for natural daylight and a workplace that clearly connects with nature. The parking structure, adjacent to the office, is clad in a Corten steel mesh and metal panels. 

Ameswell Mountain View is targeting LEED Platinum. Photovoltaic panels on the roofs provide a means to reduce the consumption of resources for building operation. The heavily wooded site will be repopulated with over 350 California native tree species like Redbuds, Oaks and California Buckeyes that support wildlife. This reinvigorated habitat will be open to the public with bike paths and access to the adjacent Stevens Creek as well as a large public courtyard where visitors can take in views of the tree canopy and the interior building facades that react to it. WRNS Studio served as the core-and-shell architect for the whole project – office building, parking structure, and hotel.

A selection of photos can be viewed here.

About WRNS Studio

WRNS Studio works with today’s most transformative organizations to steward their brands with exceptional architecture. Recognized for sustainable, site-specific design at any scale, WRNS Studio has offices in San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle and New York. WRNS Studio has twice been named top firm in the U.S. by Architect magazine and have been recognized as a Fast Company 2020 Most Innovative design firm. For more information, please visit www.wrnsstudio.com