Facebook New Campus | Frank Gehry

Architecture, Campus, Landscape & Urban planning

The little monster continues to grow, but this time with a new campus. Facebook just announced that Frank Gehry will design a new 3,400 employee engineering campus connected to its current HQ by an underground tunnel. Everett Katigbak, Facebook’s Environmental Design Manager, said Gehry has taken into account Facebook’s engineering culture. No cubicles or corner offices here. “Just like we do now, everyone will sit out in the open with desks that can be quickly shuffled around as teams form and break apart around projects,” Katigbak said.

The new 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 Gehry 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 should be on par with a typical Silicon Valley campus.

courtesy of Facebook

A few months ago, I flew down to Los Angeles to meet for the first time with Frank and his team. His office is a giant warehouse overflowing with handmade, wooden models juxtaposed with state-of-the-art architecture software (some of which is designed by Frank’s in-house team). His teams are filled with people who are unbelievably talented and love what they do. The whole thing reminded me of Facebook, so that when I met Frank, I already knew he was a perfect fit for us.

Nothing fuels creativity like snacks, so Gehry has also provided for cafes and small kitchens. There will also be “break-away spaces” with couches and whiteboards for relaxation or brainstorming sessions.

Outside, Katigbak promised “tons of trees on the grounds” as well as a rooftop garden. “The raw, unfinished look of our buildings means we can construct them quickly and with a big emphasis on being eco-friendly,” he said.

An underground tunnel will connect the Gehry building to Facebook’s current campus. Facebook first announced plans to move from Palo Alto to Menlo Park in Feb. 2011, and started relocating last summer. The campus currently covers 57 acres and includes nine buildings with about 1 million square feet. It was built between 1993 and 1995 and housed Sun employees until the company was acquired by Oracle in 2009. Facebook also bought an adjacent, 22-acre tract at 312 and 314 Constitution Drive that is accessible via a tunnel underneath the Bayfront Expressway.