Googlers Are Passing Around A Crazy Rumor About Sergey Brin Working On Architecture

ORIGINAL: BusinessInsider
Matt Lynley|October 25, 2011

Segey Brin. Photo: Business Insider

"Sergey Brin is Batman."

That's the meme flying around the Google office, several sources within the company have told us. While Brin has a number of pet projects, the most interesting one is a potential project involving architecture.

Yes, architecture. Physical buildings.

Google hosts a repository that only Sergey Brin can access. One source told us the repository is called "Google X," and it's where Brin checks in and out code for his pet projects.

While Brin is the only one who can access that code, a few intrepid Googlers have been able to sneak in and snoop around. What they found were blueprints for buildings.

One source said the blueprints what could go on to become data storage buildings. Included were blueprints for a mobile power supply, which would help Google create more modular data centers that they could place wherever, the source said.

Another source said it wasn't clear what kind of building was in the works, but it could be a new office campus for Google. It's not too far-fetched of an idea, given that Steve Jobs personally helped design Apple's office campus and wanted it to feel just like an Apple product.

Another source said she could not comment on several things — one of which was the rumors about blueprints in Brin's repository and said meme about Sergey Brin being Batman.

Sergey Brin has certainly kept himself busy. When we asked him what he was working on at the Web 2.0 Summit last week, he said he feared "he had taken on too much" at Google. Brin said he spent one day meeting with executives and the other four each week working on "infrastructure" and "advanced research projects." Among Brin's projects is Google's self-driving car.

Keep in mind that these are rumors flying around the Google office — so Google employees could have just as easily have started them for fun. But Brin has been characteristically cryptic about what he is working on lately. And with $16.7 billion to his name, it's hard to imagine that he doesn't have a number of pet projects he is keeping even Google employees in the dark about.

When we reached out to Google, a spokesperson said "it would be closer for you to call these research projects." The spokesperson said Google was not going to provide any further comment.

Have you heard anything about Brin's pet architecture project? Email me at mlynley@businessinsider.com.