Google uses timber from WWII airship for buildings
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How timber from a WWII airship hangar became part of Google campuses
Jun 23, 2026
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Inside Google’s years-long effort to safely deconstruct a WWII airship hangar and salvage the wood for reuse.
Nathan Gassmann
Circular Economy Lead, Global Sustainability
Chris Alwan
Director, Real Estate & Workplace Services
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Google recently dismantled a historic World War II airship hangar at Moffett Federal Airfield after structural damage made it unsafe. Instead of sending the wood to a landfill, the team salvaged 119,000 board feet of Douglas fir to reuse in new office construction. This project proves that old buildings can serve as material banks, helping us reduce waste and avoid the need for new resources.
Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental.
Google had to tear down an old, historic airship hangar that was falling apart. Instead of throwing the wood in the trash, they carefully took it apart to save the best pieces. They tested the old timber to make sure it was still strong and safe to use. Now, they're using that wood to build new offices instead of buying new materials.
Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental.
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General summary
Basic explainer
In 1943, as World War II made materials like steel more scarce, the U.S. Navy turned to timber to construct airship hangars at Moffett Federal Airfield, located at what is now NASA Ames Research Center. The structures were built in just 208 days using Douglas fir, widely assumed to have been harvested from the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and became part of a strategic West Coast hub for blimp operations during the war.
In 2014, Planetary Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of Google, entered a long-term lease of the airfield and assumed management of the historic hangars. Though Hangar 3 stood for over 80 years, the structure was compromised by substantial engineering challenges. Ultimately, ongoing efforts to repair and preserve the historic structure could not prevent progressing damage, prompting the difficult decision to remove the now hazardous hangar.
A typical demolition would have routed this historic timber to the landfill, but Google’s sustainability and real estate teams saw a different opportunity: salvaging the wood for reuse in modern buildings.Salvaging 119,000 board feet of old growth lumber
Once engineering assessments confirmed Hangar 3 couldn’t be preserved in its original form, the question became how best to remove the structure. Typical demolition wasn’t an option: the wood within the structure had been exposed to a variety of chemicals, creating a high risk of contamination. So the 1,000-foot-long structure would have to be systematically dismantled.
Teams used high-reach excavators to surgically disassemble the hangar, salvaging approximately 119,000 board feet of the most structurally sound Douglas fir boards (roughly 178 tons of material).
Some of this salvaged wood — shipped back up to Spokane, Washington, for evaluation and remanufacturing — is now destined for a Google mass timber office prototype in the Dalles, Oregon. It’s a homecoming of sorts: returning the wood to the regional timber economy from which it was likely harvested over eight decades ago.
Exterior view of Hangars 2 & 3 at Moffett Field showing their massive scale.
Photo: Sam Burbank
Interior view showing massive steel pillars and hangar doors.
Photo: Sam Burbank
Exterior view of the hangar doors with a boom lift extending towards the upper section.
Photo: Sam Burbank
Low-angle perspective showing the intricate wooden framework structure on the exterior.
Photo: Sam Burbank
A large section of the hangar's wooden framework is detached and brought down by the excavator during the demolition process.
Photo: Sam Burbank
The Hangar 3 structure at Moffett Field is carefully deconstructed using specialized equipment.
Photo: Sam Burbank
Dismantling the wooden framework was a complicated task, requiring heavy equipment and detailed removal of boards.
Photo: Sam Burbank
Not everything can be salvaged from a deconstruction project like this.
Photo: Sam Burbank
The final truss bays of Hangar 3 are taken down, with Hangar 2 in the background.
Photo: Sam Burbank
Salvaged boards are stacked prior to being shipped for testing and reuse, with Hangar 2 in the background.
Photo: Sam Burbank
Writing a new playbook
Reclaiming used lumber on such a large scale is often dismissed as unpredictable, labor-intensive and costly. Modern building codes assume builders are using freshly milled lumber, so there’s no easy path to certify reclaimed wood.
In the absence of a roadmap, the Hangar 3 project team created their own. They consulted wood scientists, structural engineers and mass timber manufacturers to rigorously test the structural integrity of the salvaged timber.
After planing away the contaminated outer layers, testing yielded incredible news: the historic Douglas fir still possessed robust, predictable structural strength. In the end, approximately 66,000 board feet of the material successfully met the rigorous requirements for mass timber remanufacturing.Viewing old buildings as material banks, not waste
Our Hangar 3 journey underscores the opportunity presented by deconstruction and reuse. It shows that if we can view our existing physical assets as "material banks" for future uses, then we can minimize the economic and environmental costs of purchasing new materials.
The lumber salvaged from Hangar 3 is now getting a new life in showcase installations across Google campuses in the Bay Area, California, and for mass timber construction at supporting office facilities on Google data center campuses.
Read more about the process in our new white paper.
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