“Excitement” was the overriding feeling when taking on the job to design Google’s first purpose-built headquarters in Mountain View, California. Heatherwick architect Eliot Postma, the studio’s lead on the project, could be forgiven for having felt some pressure, too.

The newly completed office complex, designed by a partnership between Heatherwick and BIG, is no normal commercial scheme. Google is arguably the planet’s most important company and its ideas, both corporate and philosophical, influence businesses, governments and people across the world.