Dive Brief:
- Social media giant Facebook has released more details on its planned headquarters expansion in Menlo Park, CA, in advance of public hearings, which will decide if it can go forward with the project, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.
- The ground-up project includes two buildings — 962,000 square feet in total — with a park running through them, a 200-unit hotel and pedestrian and bicycle bridges, which would connect the complex to a nearby trail.
- Facebook's previous 430,000-square-foot "Building 20" project on the same site garnered attention for its 9-acre green roof with 400 trees and a walking trail.
Dive Insight
Representatives with the architect, Gehry Partners, said the new construction's design aims for a "diversity in architecture" that would fit in with the surrounding neighborhood by utilizing "articulation," or more contrast in the building envelope, through a variance in peaked roofs for example, according to the Business Journal. Their plans also include a public element — a 22,900-square-foot park with food trucks, movie nights, coffee kiosks and picnic areas.
While public sentiment so far has been positive, issues of impact to traffic and housing prices have been brought up, the Business Journal reported. A community representative pointed out that increasing area jobs with no consideration to housing inventory would drive up housing prices.
Gehry also designed Facebook's new Seattle office, which can accommodate 2,000 employees, although the company's headcount in the area currently only tops 1,000. The space features the "standard" Facebook elements of exposed ductwork, unfinished plywood walls and concrete floors.
Google also has been experiencing growth in Seattle, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Vulcan Real Estate is building the tech giant a mixed-use space with more than 600,000 square feet of offices, 14,000 square feet of retail and 151 residential units. Counting this new addition to its portfolio, Google will have almost 1 million square feet of business space in Washington.
