Google's San Francisco Office History Archival

The Objective To synthesize and visualize the dense, multi-layered history of Google San Francisco’s office buildings into an accessible, engaging, museum-quality experience for Google employees. The goal was to bridge the gap between the physical environment and the site's rich historical narrative.

Background and Problem
The Google office buildings hold over a century of profound and diverse history—ranging from the 1916 origins as the Southern Pacific Railroad headquarters to the underground LGBTQ+ history of SF, and even buried Gold Rush-era ships beneath the Embarcadero. The challenge was curating this vast amount of historical data, photography, and archival content from a historical archivist working on the project and turning it into a cohesive, easily digestible visual story that lived across both digital and physical touch points.

The Solution
I developed a comprehensive, multi-layered "narrative" that brought the building's history to life. By blending digital storytelling with physical placemaking, I created a self-guided historical journey. The project served as both an educational resource and an homage to the cultural impact of the San Francisco waterfront.