Inside Facebook’s new HQ – “the largest open floor plan in the world”
Facebook staff have begun moving into the organisation’s new 4ha Frank Gehry-designed offices in California’s Menlo Park.
Facebook staff have begun to move into the company’s new Frank Gehry-designed offices in California, which Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says have been designed as “the largest open floor plan in the world”.
The new building, in Menlo Park, is around 4ha in size and has been designed to house 2,800 Facebook staff. Zuckerberg has previously said: “The idea is to make the perfect engineering space: one giant room that fits thousands of people, all close enough to collaborate together.”
Although no official photography of the building has yet been taken, Facebook staff and visitors have been posting images to Instagram showing artwork and installations at the building – including pieces by artists HENSE, Chris Lux and Maya Hayuk.
The building also features a 4ha rooftop park with walking trails and outdoor work spaces.
Zuckerberg says: “The building itself is pretty simple and isn’t fancy. That’s on purpose. We want our space to feel like a work in progress. When you enter our buildings, we want you to feel how much left there is to be done in our mission to connect the world.”
He adds: “Our goal was to create the perfect engineering space for our teams to work together… To do this, we designed the largest open floor plan in the world — a single room that fits thousands of people. There are lots of small spaces where people can work together, and it’s easy for people to move around and collaborate with anyone here.”
Zuckerberg has also revealed that when Gehry approached Facebook and asked to design the new building he was turned down. Zuckerberg says: “Even though we all loved his architecture, we initially said no. We figured he would be very expensive and that would send the wrong signal about our culture.”
Zuckerberg adds: ‘Frank came back to us and said we should go get other bids and that he would beat them all — and he did. As I learned, most building construction wastes a lot of materials and time due to poor planning. Frank has designed special software to assist in his architecture, so he’s very efficient.
“In the end, our building finished ahead of schedule and under budget. It’s the only construction project I’ve ever heard of achieving this. It ended up costing us much less than any other major developments planned in Silicon Valley and taking way less time to build.”
Orange is the new orange. #EmptyFacebook #NewDiscoveries #NewBeginnings #FrankGehry #Brilliant #MindBlown #MPK20FirstLook A photo posted by Aria (@aria) on
Cinderella down that spiral zig zag staircase #MPK20FirstLook #MPK20 #staircase #stairwell #plywood #FrankGehry A photo posted by Eza Chung (@ezachung) on
featuring a few of my favorite things about the new #mpk20 building: high ceilings, massive windows letting in loads of light, beautiful geometric design of the interior, and the artwork from @fbairprogram. I’ve been itching to take more photos recently; thanks @facebook for scratching my itch. #mpk20firstlook A photo posted by david hoang (@dshoang) on
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