Check Out How Much Fancier Facebook’s New Digs Are

Correction appended

Facebook started in a college dorm room, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems to be trying to recapture the kind of spontaneous collaboration that can happen in those spaces with the social networking giant’s new building.

Dubbed by the company as the “largest open floor plan in the world,” the new 430,000-square-foot, single story facility in Menlo Park, Calif. places thousands of workers — Zuckerberg included — in a single giant room. Product teams are clustered together throughout the sprawling space, which resembles an aircraft hangar. Atop the building is a 9-acre park with walking trails and seats to host outdoor meetings.

The design of the new workspace, intended to encourage collaboration, is also supposed to reenforce Facebook’s overall mission of connecting the world. “We wanted our space to create the same sense of community and connection among our teams that we try to enable with our services across the world,” Zuckerberg said back in March when he and his employees moved in.

The building, called MPK 20 and designed by celebrated architect Frank Gehry, is a far cry from the more pedestrian office complex that used to be the base of their operations — although the company still uses that building as part of its campus. Here, we offer some comparison shots between the older and newer spaces.

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly described the purpose of Facebook’s new facility. It is an extension of its headquarters.

 

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