Dezeen Wire: architect Frank Gehry (pictured above, left) is designing the new campus for social media giant Facebook, which claims it will be the largest open-plan office in the world.
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The building will accommodate 2800 engineers underneath a green roof on the edge of San Francisco Bay and construction could begin early next year.
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"I'm excited to work with Frank Gehry to design our new campus," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured above, centre and below, left) posted on his own Facebook timeline. "The idea is to make the perfect engineering space: one giant room that fits thousands of people, all close enough to collaborate together. It will be the largest open floor plan in the world, but it will also have plenty of private, quiet spaces as well."
"The roof of the building will be a park that blends into the community with a long walking trail, a field and lots of places to sit. From the outside it will appear as if you're looking at a hill in nature."
See Facebook's Palo Alto offices designed by Studio O+A in 2009 in our earlier story and see all our stories about Frank Gehry here.
See all our stories about technology companies »
Portraits are by Everett Katigbak, Facebook. Model shots are by Frank Gehry/Gehry Partners.
Here's some more information from Facebook:
The whole campus has been designed to take into account Facebook's way of working and culture. It is one, large office that will be broken up by conference rooms and break-away spaces, with a parking structure underneath. There will be a rooftop garden, as well as a ground level one. Frank is famous for his ability to execute on the wishes of his client while keeping his projects within their budget. As such, the costs of the campus will be considerably lower than most of Frank's previous work. This is especially true as the building is designed to be simple—almost like a giant warehouse, rather than a monument to Frank or Mark. It's emphasis is on functionality, rather than extravagance.
» It will be one, large building set atop a parking structure
» We will plant a number of trees along the ground level (where now there is only empty land), and we'll extend that into a rooftop garden that will cover the entire building.
» The place will hold up to 2,800 employees and will be an engineering-only office
» We will keep our old campus and use a tunnel under the highway to connect the two
Looks a bit like Theme Hispital. Anyone remember that game?
Great reference, great game.
I’m sure the new Facebook headquarters will be complete with all the “sights and sounds” from Theme Hospital, ie. lots of farts, and streaming puke.
Rem would have been better…
I would have been better…
There’s no safe place to rest your eyes.
Can anyone else see the issue of the weight of all the soil and trees on the roof not being supported by any significant structure? Not to mention lack of natural light and ventilation.
Way to take a giant leap back in office design Frank. As an architecture student if I submitted this it would be an instant fail!!
Not at all, if you look at some of his works most seem structurally challenging but being one of the world’s top architects you have easy access to the best engineers. Why would be ventilation be a serious issue? After all it’s an “open space” concept. And natural light you said, most of the people there will be working with computers most of the time – try staring at a monitor with all this glare around and see if that’s fine. This is elementary stuff you’ve brought up in front of no less than Frank Gehry. Other architects may have done better than this I would agree, but your points are too basic, too elementary to say the least.
Don’t worry guys!! By the time this gets built, Facebook will be as dated as Myspace is now.
The blind and the deaf give their thoughts . . .
It must be very good when you can even click on the image!
Very two-dimensional! Like Facebook is…
I’m confused with the decision to go with Gehry. This could have been a conversation about the biggest digital social interface intersecting with the physical realm. I feel like there could have been so many more younger architects who share ideals and thought processes with Zuckerberg that could have shed light on a transformative architecture.
I hope architecture students in general are not wasting their time worrying about the weight of trees. In an architectural discussion, this is a very narrow minded approach. I think the trees are wrong, and their weight is part of it, but pretty far down the list. Its much more interesting to think about why they chose it DESPITE of the weight issue. If there had been a reason that makes the project very strong and justifies the choice, for sure the weight issue is irrelevant and could be solved.
Would you care to elaborate on why the trees are wrong. What fills the rest of your list?
I hate the idea of one giant room, I think its not healthy and not appropriate to work in.
All you egotistical haters. Whether you like it or not, Frank Gehry has things built. What have you done in the world besides criticise and complain?