Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wore the only tie on display when he welcomed reporters for a reception and tour of his company’s new headquarters, tucked below a hill in a residential area of Palo Alto, not far from the Stanford campus.
The old HP research facility was refurbished for comfort, not for luxury. Facebook tore out a sea of cubicles to reveal wide open spaces for desks and oversized terminals. Nearly everyone sits there, including all company executives.
The result is something like a dream college dorm, with good food available throughout the day in a cafeteria .
“It’s a temporary space. It’s not going to last us forever. It’s an experiment so we can decide what sort of building we want for ourselves going forward,” said Aaron Sittig, who took reporters around the 137,000 square foot building that celebrates the quirky.
Privacy is afforded in meeting rooms, some with names that are mashups of video games and condiments, like Donkey Kong Chutney and Guitartar Hero. A leftover crane from HP days decorates one of the snack kitchens. There is an outdoor basketball court, an indoor ping pong table (mixed doubles were going on when reporters walked by) and RipStiks are scattered around for quick transport.
“It’s a rite of passage to learn how to use these to get around,” said Sittig.
Facebook has 700 employees in the building and another 200 in other cities. It will stay in its new home for a few years, until Stanford — which owns the land — wants it back.
Photo: David Lawsky
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6 comments so far
Gone are the days of Excess during pre-2000 era.
- Posted by JohnSure glad I don’t work in that office. Zero cubicle wall divisions mean a VERY noisy work space. I’m not for everybody in a single cube and one team of say 8 people sharing an open space is great. But the entire company or department without noise dampening is a disaster. What do you do if you need to focus on something intensely?
- Posted by David JensenFor individual concentration, headphones will be very popular.
But private conversations will be very difficult to come by.
- Posted by ChipSounds tough - at least, there’s air. I worked at a newspaper that had absolutely “zero” windows, and no partitions. Everyone, including the publisher smoked. I won’t even go into health benefits. No privacy beats lung disease any day.
- Posted by RaphaelRe: Private conversations- Isn’t that the Facebook philosophy?
- Posted by jenThis is a very encouraging move by Facebook.
- Posted by krishnamurthi ramachandranI have already seen of their new move by video presentation.
For individual attention,headphones are much utilitarian value.