IT Infrastructure - eWeek

IT Infrastructure: Facebook Finds New Digs in Vintage Silicon Valley Office


In mid-May, Facebook moved its main offices from downtown Palo Alto, Calif., to a more "rural" setting on California Avenue just off the Stanford University campus, in a 45-year-old two-story building once used by research engineers at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent. It isn't the prettiest, best-equipped building in Silicon Valley, but it is quite functional for what the 800-employee social networking company is looking for. "And we got it for cheap," CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg told eWEEK. "Look, we don't need a fancy-looking place to impress everybody. We just need a good, comfortable space for our engineers and creative people to collaborate and make new things that our subscribers can find useful." The new headquarters is about a mile from the restaurants and social life of downtown, but Facebook managers have provided some good stay-at-home features: a cafeteria that's open all day long, a basketball court, a ping-pong room, a video games room and plenty of lounge-type furniture to make everyone feel right at home. Here are some highlights from the recent Facebook open house.
 
  • Facebook Finds New Digs in Vintage Silicon Valley Office
    Text and photos by Chris Preimesberger
  • Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg welcomes invitees to the open house on June 15.
  • Facebook staff members and visitors socialize during the open house on the roof garden of the new headquarters, which is located in the Palo Alto foothills and has a view of downtown and San Francisco Bay to the east.
  • Looking to the west, the roof garden/eating area bumps up against the Palo Alto foothills. The building had not been in use since about 2001, when Agilent moved to new quarters across town.
  • The building is roomy enough inside for staff members to use skateboards to get around, should they choose to do so.
  • The entire interior of the two-story building is designed for face-to-face collaboration among staff people. These "mini-cubes" offer some privacy for groups but don't wall off people from each other. It's an unwritten rule that if a person is wearing headphones, that means he or she is concentrating on a project and should not be interrupted.
  • The open offices take advantage of the high ceilings and numerous skylights on the second floor. There are no conventional "cubes" in the building; there are a few small, private meeting rooms, but not many.
  • A Facebook tour guide answers questions at the rear entrance to the new headquarters. This photo offers a hint at the conventional design of the building and how it is nestled into the foothills.
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