Envisioning Downtown West
Google’s Downtown West project in San Jose will see the development of 80 acres of land in downtown San Jose. The master-plan is “much less the corporate campus” and more “a resilient neighborhood”. The project is focused on creating local job opportunities, creating 4,000 new homes including 25% for affordable housing, strengthening the community through $150M investment in social equity and community participation, 15 acres of parks and open space with free year-round programming, ambitious zero net new carbon climate targets, and extensive enhancement of ecological health with over 4.25 acres of riparian habitat.
Red Leaf was thrilled to support the project through the creation of key project visualizations. We had the privilege to work alongside a world-leading architecture and planning team that included some of the most respected experts in the industry. The project was a model for leveraging Red Leaf’s capabilities as a visualization consultant, in which our engagement included leading ideation workshops and creating clarity for the project by synthesizing design ideas from across the team of world-leading designers.
Tags
Project Website
WithGoogle San Jose
Client
Google
Select Project Collaborators
LendLease
Gehl
Grimshaw Architects
Heatherwick Studio
Kohn Pedersen Fox
SiteLAB Urban Studio
West 8
Location
San Jose CA
Team
Derek Chan
Jessica Chan
Andy Liu
Claire Liu
Christian Ritchie
Chris Shusta
Henry Wu
Is That Hand Drawn?!
Yes, it is. In a first for Red Leaf, we worked closely with the client to develop a style that was better suited to communicating the project’s goals of inclusivity. We created the calibrated hand-drawn aesthetic you see here to help facilitate conveying the idea of a an inclusive place, while maintaining the realism in which our images are typically rooted.
Nailing Nature
Enhancing San Jose’s ecological health, including investing in 2.2 acres of restored and enhanced riparian habitat, is one of the core goals of the Google Downtown West project. That is why in this visualization for the Creekside Walk, our team worked tirelessly to capture not only the light and atmosphere that would be present at this riparian corridor but also worked closely with Google to include specific native species that will be a real part of the place. We think the result is magical.
Creating Place
Google’s San Jose Downtown West masterplan is a collaborative vision between the City of San Jose, its residents, and Google. The ccommitment is to creating a place that is inclusive of San Jose’s diverse residents and investing in its social infrastructure, creating real opportunities for its local businesses and creators. Red Leaf was tasked with conveying what that will look like. To do that we created and designed for the team multiple iterations of programmatic interventions, people, and open space design, until the full value and vision of the Place came together in a holistic vision.
