
Here’s why you’ll see triangles stamped all over Nvidia’s $920 million campus
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Triangles, for Nvidia, represent both a nod to history, but also a crucial lesson learned.
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August 19, 2025
03:06 PM
Fortune
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Big ·NvidiaHere’s why you’ll see triangles stamped all over Nvidia’s $920 million campusBy Dave SmithBy Dave SmithEditor, U.S
NewsDave SmithEditor, U.S
NewsDave Smith is a writer and editor who previously has been published in Insider, Newsweek, ABC News, and USA TODAY.SEE FULL BIO Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, cost $920 million to make.NvidiaNvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., stands as both a testament to, and a literal duct of, the same chips and nologies that have fueled the company’s dramatic rise to a $4 trillion valuation
Rather than simply being occupied by nologists, the buildings themselves are tangibly informed by Nvidia’s own silicon, custom software, and design philosophy
Nvidia’s headquarters are highlighted by two massive buildings, named after Star Trek ships: the 750,000 square-foot Voyager, and the 500,000 square-foot Endeavor
A four-acre park connects the two buildings
Building on Endeavor in 2017, and construction on Voyager wrapped up five years later in 2022
According to Venturebeat, both buildings cost $920 million to realize
Un traditional architectural jects, Nvidia and its lead design partner, global firm Gensler, used machine-learning tools and custom visualization software powered by Nvidia GPUs to optimize everything from daylight flow and acoustic dynamics to employee movement and collaboration zones. “We got to test out our nology on our own ject,” Jack Dahlgren, ject and design manager at Nvidia, told The Wall Street Journal
The triangle motif: A nod to 3D graphics, and a lesson learned But a key part of the campus design, which you’ll see literally everywhere, from structures to walkways to windows, is triangles
You can’t throw a rock in Nvidia HQ without hitting a triangle. “Our triangle motif here is really a reflection of the origins of the company,” Dahlgren said. “3D graphics were originally based on drawing triangles.” The two signature buildings of Nvidia HQ: Endeavor, left, and Voyager.Nvidia Indeed, triangles are the most basic polygon; any complex 3D shape can be broken down into a mesh of interconnected triangles
But there’s a deeper meaning to why Nvidia has triangles all over its campus
Back in 1995, Nvidia debuted its first chip, the NV1, which could render quadratic surfaces; it was a pretty big risk, and a radical departure from, the industry-standard triangle-based graphics
It was int to be a disruptive innovation, but the complexity of NV1, and its lack of developer support, ultimately ved to be its undoing
The company’s similarly ambitious and subsequently canceled NV2 chip almost derailed the startup entirely
With NV3, Nvidia went back to triangles, the foundation for modern-graphics cessing, and the move paid off: Nvidia was able to generate much-needed revenue, which kept the company afloat so it could later reinvest in R&D and pursue future innovations, setting the stage for its rise in the graphics industry
Of course, there’s much more to Nvidia’s headquarters than just triangles
The entire campus features 511 triangular skylights, more than 14,000 plants (including a massive 80-foot living wall), and crisscrossing paths and shortcuts both indoors and outdoors to minimize travel times but still encourage spontaneous encounters, in the same way Apple’s “spaceship” campus, Apple Park, achieves the same goal with its circular walkways
Nvidia’s Dahlgren said should the company build a third building, it would “undoubtedly” use AI to help design the facility
You can learn more Nvidia’s headquarters from this fascinating shot by The Wall Street Journal: For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft
An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world
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