Just as thousands of Facebook workers were settling into their brand new Gehry-designed Menlo Park complex last week, the company was already putting forward plans for even more office space, also designed by the renowned architect.
According to the LA Times, the location currently holds nine buildings, all of which will be cleared if Facebook gets the green light to redevelop the area, which sits close to its recently opened complex.
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The company’s proposal comprises plans for two buildings covering nearly a million square feet, with the design said to resemble Gehry’s first Facebook effort. This means we can expect to see low-rise structures with cavernous interiors and, quite possibly, a massive rooftop garden. One of the buildings will reportedly be used for special events for as many as 2,000 people at a time.
In a message to the city, Facebook’s director of campus facilities, Fergus O’Shea, said the buildings would “positively transform” the area “by converting a heavy-industrial site into a vibrant campus that fosters collaboration and innovation.”
The social network giant’s latest campus, which opened to employees last week, sports a flash, striking, and surely very expensive design, made all the more incredible by the fact that Zuckerberg said it’d be “unassuming, matter-of-fact, and cost effective” when plans for the building were revealed a couple of years back.
The new building, which offers around 430,000 square feet of interior space, is thought to feature the largest open-plan office in the world. Of course, Facebook isn’t the only tech-related firm splashing the cash on plush new structures for their employees – a recent drone video revealed Apple’s famous ‘spaceship’ campus in Cupertino is starting to take shape, while Google and Amazon are also working on plans for new offices.
