Photos: A Googleplex grows in D.C.

Just two-and-a-half years ago, Google had only one Washington-based person on its payroll. Now about 20 employees--including nine on the policy team, six on the public affairs team, and one lone engineer--work at the company outpost.

The new office is built for further growth, with some 5,000 square feet still vacant (Googlers call it the "white space") and a few unoccupied cubicles lingering as well. (The name tag for one of them is pictured here.)

Eventually, the Washington office is expected to become a "microcosm" of the bigger company, says senior policy counsel Alan Davidson, the pioneering D.C. employee. Exact hiring plans haven't been set, but "it's going to grow, and it's going to continue to be more representative of all of Google." For now, by our math, each employee theoretically has more than 1,000 square feet to call his or her own.