Here’s an inside look at the incredible Google Zurich office. Their “team is strong in all things maps and geo, even more so after having integrated several dozen specialists from Swiss company Endoxon, which Google acquired.”

So there is alot of work here going into Google Maps and Google Earth — the built-in flight simulator discovered by a blogger a few weeks ago was developed here.

More info: Techeblog.com and Picasa

Meeting “pods” in the style of Swiss chalets and igloos, fireman poles to allow easy access between floors and a slide to ensure that people can get to the cafeteria as quickly as possible are all part of the striking design at Google’s new European engineering headquarters in Zurich Switzerland.

The building was designed for – and partly by – the 300 engineers who will work there. The alternative office is both a showcase for Google’s unconventional approach to business and a symbol to prove that Google is no longer a US-centric firm.

Engineers work in small teams of three or four, which is reflected at the Zurich HQ with small offices, each of which comes with the requisite “bean bag” meeting room.

Whiteboards are everywhere, allowing ideas to be written down wherever they are thought up and there is a heavy emphasis on the idea that work and play can co-exist.

Other areas include a games room, a library in the style of an English country house and an aquarium where over-worked Googlers can lie in a bath full of red foam and stare at fish.

View the Official Photo Gallery here