• Google salvaged 119,000 board feet of Douglas fir from Hangar 3 at Moffett Federal Airfield.
• About 66,000 board feet met requirements for mass timber remanufacturing after testing and treatment.
• The project offers a circular construction model for corporate real estate, data centers, and low-carbon building strategies.

Google Turns WWII Hangar Timber Into New Campus Buildings

Mountain View, California, a wartime airship hangar built from old-growth Douglas fir is finding a second life inside Google’s modern real estate portfolio.

The timber came from Hangar 3 at Moffett Federal Airfield, now part of NASA Ames Research Center. The U.S. Navy built the structure in 1943, during World War II, when steel and other materials were scarce. Crews completed the 1,000-foot-long hangar in just 208 days. The wood is widely believed to have come from forests in the Pacific Northwest.

More than eight decades later, the same timber is being reused in Google campus projects. The effort links historic preservation, circular construction, and corporate climate strategy. It also gives investors and real estate leaders a practical example of how old buildings can become supply chains for new, lower-carbon development.

From Wartime Infrastructure to Corporate Reuse

In 2014, Planetary Ventures LLC, a Google subsidiary, entered a long-term lease for the airfield. The company also took over management of the historic hangars.

Hangar 3 had already stood for more than 80 years. However, engineering assessments found serious structural issues. Teams explored repair and preservation options, but damage continued to progress. The structure eventually became hazardous, which led to the decision to remove it.

A standard demolition process would likely have sent much of the timber to landfill. Google’s sustainability and real estate teams chose another route. They treated the hangar as a source of valuable material, not construction waste.

That decision required a slower and more technical process. The wood had been exposed to several chemicals over its lifetime. As a result, teams could not simply demolish the structure and recover the material afterward.

Instead, high-reach excavators dismantled the hangar with precision. Crews salvaged about 119,000 board feet of the most structurally sound Douglas fir. That represented roughly 178 tons of material.

Testing Reclaimed Wood for Modern Codes

Large-scale lumber reuse remains difficult in commercial construction. Building codes and supply chains generally assume that projects use newly milled material. Reclaimed wood creates harder questions around grading, contamination, liability, and performance.

Google’s project team had to build a process from the ground up. They worked with wood scientists, structural engineers, and mass timber manufacturers. Their goal was to test whether the hangar timber could meet modern performance standards.

The contaminated outer layers were planed away. The remaining Douglas fir then went through structural testing. The results showed that the historic timber still had strong and predictable performance.

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In the end, about 66,000 board feet met the requirements for mass timber remanufacturing. Some of the wood was shipped to Spokane, Washington, for evaluation and processing. It is now set for use in a Google mass timber office prototype in The Dalles, Oregon.

The location carries symbolic weight. The timber is returning to the regional economy from which it was likely harvested more than 80 years ago.

Why This Matters for ESG and Real Estate Leaders

The Hangar 3 project gives corporate real estate teams a tested case study in circular construction. It also speaks to a larger challenge facing companies with large building footprints.

Construction materials carry high embodied carbon. Steel, concrete, and new timber all come with environmental costs. Reusing existing materials can reduce demand for virgin resources. It can also cut waste and help companies align real estate decisions with climate commitments.

Google’s approach also reframes aging assets. Buildings at the end of their useful life are often treated as liabilities. This project suggests they can also serve as “material banks” for future development.

That idea has growing relevance for data centers, campuses, industrial sites, and public infrastructure. Many companies are expanding physical assets while also facing tighter climate expectations. Investors increasingly want evidence that sustainability claims translate into capital planning and procurement decisions.

The salvaged Hangar 3 timber will appear in showcase installations across Google campuses in the Bay Area. It will also support mass timber construction at office facilities on Google data center campuses.

For executives, the lesson is clear. Circularity in the built environment is no longer limited to design theory. With planning, testing, and governance discipline, legacy materials can re-enter high-value corporate supply chains.

The project also broadens the ESG conversation around real estate. Climate strategy does not only sit in energy procurement or carbon accounting. It also lives in demolition decisions, material specifications, and the willingness to challenge standard construction practice.

Hangar 3 began as wartime infrastructure. Its timber now points to a different kind of resilience: one built around reuse, lower waste, and smarter stewardship of existing assets.