Facebook's New Home from the Inside
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Business 2 SECTION August 3, 2011 ■ A LSO INSIDE C ALENDAR 24 |REAL ESTATE 25 |CLASSIFIEDS 29 irst look facebook’s new home from the inside out by sandy brundage | almanac staff writer f any office building has that coveted garage door on to a central courtyard. “new car” smell, it’s Facebook’s reno- Employees didn’t waste time before vated Menlo Park headquarters. leaving their mark on the building: An Earlier this year the social network- exquisitely sketched pink elephant trum- ing giant signed a 15-year leaseback peted from one blackboard wall; one iagreement for a 1-million-square-foot, worker found the perfect spot to display 11-building campus that used to house a short brown wig; a flower chalked in Sun and Oracle employees. It also bought pastels climbed another blackboard. two nearby lots on Constitution Drive, Plywood partitions screened some areas Photos courtesy of Facebook linked to the 57-acre Sun campus by a while climbing ropes fenced off others, the Above left: A meeting space at Facebook’s new home. Near the orange chair, climbing pedestrian tunnel under the Bayfront contribution of a contractor who climbs in ropes provide a partition that can double as a message board. At right: A phone booth Expressway. That gives Facebook the his spare time. Adding clothespins to hold stands ready for a private call — or Superman — at Facebook’s new headquarters. growing room to triple the number of notes will let the ropes double as a mes- employees to 6,100. sageboard. Overhead, ceiling ductwork The Almanac was the first newspaper looked stark, matching the undisguised the scarlet paint of the room’s door, John One favorite spot of lead designer to tour the renovated campus, on July 27, industrial feel of the office space. Tenanes, real estate director, said the team Everett Katigbak contained a yellow chair just days before the first 500 employees left The micro kitchen sported decidedly re-used everything it could from materials next to a huge black pillow on an elevated the Palo Alto office behind to move in to low-tech chairs — the plastic yellow and left behind by Sun. Ceiling tiles, company floor, a space he described as feeling like Menlo Park. Building 10 is still so new to black seats match those in school cafete- emblems etched in glass, “even the doors “an elevated weird meditation space.” them that they sometimes get lost. Arrows rias around the country. aren’t new,” he said. The cozies address one of the most scribbled on a wall point out “IT This Way Cozies — nooks set aside for inti- requested features — more intimate ... Not THAT Way.” hacking design mate chats — were mostly empty on meeting spaces. If that’s still not tiny Once someone navigates the labyrinth Facebook’s blue and white logos are Wednesday afternoon, giving them enough, scattered phone booths stand of polished concrete hallways to arrive instantly recognizable online. But that more than a passing resemblance to ready for private calls, while on the at tech support, they’ll find a TV and clean color scheme doesn’t appear at IKEA showrooms, only without the other end of the scale, the second floor’s PlayStation to ease the wait time until headquarters. “Buy this room for $299.99!” signs. Mr. larger areas can host 300 people at a time. their computer’s fixed — after construc- Instead, vibrancy pops from random Tenanes declined to put a price tag on Videoconferencing equipment located tion’s done. On Wednesday workers were walls and floors. One conference room the renovations, but said that re-using throughout the building can even expand measuring the space to figure out how to boasts a wall painted the exact yellow of a materials made the process “very cost install a wall that will swing open like a No. 2 pencil. Pointing to a scratch marring efficient. We do more with less.” Continued on page 23 August 3, 2011 N The Almanac N21 Local Deals Good for Business. Good for You. Good for the Community. 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Learn more about the value of locally owned businesses at ShopMenloPark.com A community collaboration brought to you by For more information call 650.223.6509 Available in a mobile version 22 N The Almanac NAugust 3, 2011 BUSINESS Sketch and photos courtesy of Facebook Above: This sketch hints at what the central courtyard will look like when construction finishes. At left: A conference room at Facebook’s new home. If the far wall makes you think of No. 2 pencils, that’s the idea. At right: Blackboard walls encourage graffiti, which, in this case, serves the practical purpose of guiding employees around their new office. Continued from page 21 feel of the new office Haven School, where Asked how Facebook plans to balance is deliberate, reflecting CEO Mark Zuckerberg the community’s expectations with its role that, by reaching across the globe. Facebook’s philosophy Lead designer surprised the gradu- as a business, Mr. Tenanes said: “It’s a good Facebook installed a network of that its journey is only ates as commencement question. We’re still figuring that out.” touchscreen scheduling modules to 1 percent finished. Everett Katigbak speaker. keep track of who wants to use which A key challenge for The company continues essentials first conference room and when. The glow- Mr. Katigbak going for- spent months to brainstorm partner- Like moving house, relocating head- ing wall panels add a sci-fi touch that ward is how to keep the ships with Menlo Park, quarters sometimes leaves the niceties wouldn’t be out of place on a Star Trek company culture intact working with in areas as varied as cof- behind in favor of getting the boxes set. The question arises, though, of how when its population fee vendors, bike shops, unpacked. A chef’s already there, of to know which meeting area you’re talk- grows weekly, a culture a design team schools. And, possibly, course. By the time the rest of the ame- ing about. Do you say, “The one with the he described as “finding bars. “We’ll miss Anto- nities arrive, Facebook employees should huge pillow on the floor?” or “Turn left the most efficient way to that looked to nio’s Nut House,” mused be able to do everything from laundry to after the cozy with the fishbowl full of take something and use Mr. Tenanes, referring to cutting hair to seeing a doctor to fixing plants”? It turns out that the employees it differently.” neighborhoods in a Palo Alto dive known a bike without leaving campus. like to name the areas themselves. for crushed peanut shells With Building 10 open for business, Mr. Katigbak spent six months working networking New York City and crunching under the feet the next three offices should be done by with a team of designers that looked to When you move into of a crowd teeming with November, according to Mr. Tenanes, neighborhoods in New York City and San a new home, getting San Francisco, Stanford students and with the rest of the employees due to Francisco, including the Mission district to know the neighbors Facebook employees. arrive by year’s end. A and North Beach, for inspiration. typically follows, and including the Opening a satellite “When I first saw the space, I thought Facebook’s no excep- bookstore appears to be ... Well, OK ... we can make this work,” tion. Representatives Mission district a backburner, but the N ON THE COVER he recalled. To break free from the have been spotted in company does plan to cubicles used by Sun/Oracle, his team recent weeks at the and North Beach, open an old-fashioned One of many “cozies” scattered looked more at exterior spaces than city’s block party; Job- library. “We like the throughout Building 10 at Facebook’s interiors, looking for a way to create a Train’s Golf, Glitz, and for inspiration. idea of real hardback new Menlo Park headquarters. Photo seamless flow between the outside and Glamour tournament; books,” said Mr. Ten- courtesy of Facebook. indoors. The unfinished, industrial and even the K-8 Belle anes. “Not digital.” August 3, 2011 N The Almanac N23 Concerts ‘Carte Blanche Concert III: David Shifrin, clarinet’ David Shifrin’s Music@ Menlo debut performance includes Brahms’s First Clarinet Sonata and clarinet trios by Brahms and Max Bruch, with pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel. Aug. 9, 8 p.m. $20 to $65. Menlo- Atherton Performing Arts Center, 555 Middlefield Visit AlmanacNews.com/calendar The Sun Kings, a Beatles tribute band, per- Road, Atherton. Call 650-331-0202. www.musi- forms Aug.