Google, launched 25 years ago by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, now has offices and data centres in over 200 cities across six continents. Here’s some interesting facts about a few of these locations:

Artistic Welcome: In Johannesburg, South Africa, local craftswomen have created an art installation at the Google office. The artwork, made with 46 kilometres of beads, greets visitors with “Howzit” - a local slang for “How are you doing?”

Bee-friendly Campus: Googleplex, the Mountain View headquarters, has been home to bee hives since 2010. This initiative supports the local bee population and provides fresh honey for Google kitchens.

Renovating History: Google is renovating existing buildings to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030. Examples include a former Flour Mills building in Dublin, Ireland, and a former aircraft hangar in Playa Vista.

Eco-friendly Commute: Google is investing in electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. It aims to provide EV charging stations for 10 percent of the parking spaces at its Bay Area headquarters.

Global Presence: Google’s first international office was in Tokyo, Japan (2001), followed by Hamburg, Germany (2002). Now, Google has a presence in over 200 cities worldwide.

Indoor Jungle: The Belo Horizonte office in Brazil features native vegetation from the Cerrado biome. The interior landscape project includes over 360 orchids, which help monitor air quality.

Inclusive Spaces: Google’s Seoul office incorporates feedback from its disability alliance to create an accessible space. The design includes braille signage, wider spaces for wheelchair mobility, and automatic sliding doors.

Desert Office: Google’s office in Dubai, UAE, is the only one located in a desert. Its design, featuring bronze colours and a wave-like reception wall, mirrors the surrounding dunes.

AI Research: Google’s first AI Research Center in Africa was opened in Accra, Ghana in 2018. The centre focuses on using AI to solve global problems like mapping remote locations for better electricity.

Solar Canopy: The Bay View campus in California boasts a “dragonscale” solar canopy. This unique design, made of nearly 90,000 solar panels, provides electricity for the building and sustainable power for other uses.

Local Art Tribute: The Google office in Montreal, opened in 2021, showcases art from local artists. It pays tribute to the city’s history and vibrant neighbourhoods.

Cultural Homage: Google Atlanta’s design celebrates the city’s cultural, artistic and musical history. It features artwork from local artists, a rainbow LGBTQ-themed staircase and functional boombox sculptures.

Sticky-Note Gallery: Over 200 Googlers have contributed to the sticky-note art gallery at Google’s London office. The gallery includes characters from popular culture like Pikachu and Mario.

Sustainable Cooling: Google’s data centre near St. Ghislain in Belgium is the first to run without refrigeration. It uses an advanced evaporative cooling system and houses a solar plant built in 2018.

Ramen Bar: Tokyo Google’s Tokyo Stream office features a ramen bar inspired by off-street ramen shops around Shibuya. It serves delicious noodle soup with “standing” style seating.

Hydropower: City Google’s New York City offices now run on clean energy from upgraded hydropower installations. This is part of Google’s commitment to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.

Folk Art: The artwork in Google’s Mexico City office is inspired by “papel picado,” a decorative Mexican folk art made of paper cut into elaborate designs.

Historic Hotel: Google’s Paris office was once a 19th-century Parisian hotel called the Hôtel de Vatry. The building still retains some original details, like a ceiling featuring the names of the destination cities of the trains in the West of France.

Urban Farming: The Google Brazil office in Belo Horizonte shares a building with Latin America’s first urban farm. Salads served at the employee cafe are partially sourced from this farm.

Developer Space: In 2019, Google opened the Developer Space at its Singapore office. It’s a hub for local developers and startups to learn, connect, engage and be inspired.

GBikes: GBikes, launched in 2007, help Googlers get around the Mountain View campus. In 2019, there were 1.9 million completed trips across the entire GBike fleet.

Arena Office: Google’s Detroit office is located in the Little Caesars Arena complex, home of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons.

Hardware Hub: Taiwan is home to Google’s largest hardware engineering hub outside of the US, growing from just one employee in 2006 to several sites across Taiwan as of now.

Stan the T. rex: Stan, a giant bronze Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, sits at the heart of Google’s Mountain View headquarters. Stan often dresses up for special occasions like Pride.

Lunar Office: Google is still in the process of setting up the Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.) - its first office on the moon. According to Google, the opening, initially announced for 2007, is taking longer than expected.