Facebook's sprawling 200-acre headquarters campus in Menlo Park, California, reflects the company's creative values and global prominence as it turns 15 years old in 2019. Its amenity-laden atmosphere is aimed at making the offices a home away from home for as many as half of its 33,000 worldwide employees when the campus completes its planned expansion to 4 million square feet. From vending machines that dispense phone chargers to artistic murals along major corridors, the campus was designed with an emphasis on connectivity and creativity while removing barriers to employee productivity.
1.
Brightly colored dishes make up a piece of artwork at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The negative space between the dishes spells out "Full Circle," the name of one of the restaurants on the campus.2.
Facebook employees walk down a street that runs through what workers call the "classic campus," a set of buildings occupied by Sun Microsystems until its acquisition by Oracle in 2009. Facebook renovated that campus, which totals 950,000 square feet, to match its overall design strategy.3.
One of Facebook’s many common areas displays posters from the company’s history of "Hackathons," which are 48-hour periods during which employees are encouraged to work on projects outside their normal duties to boost creativity and allow employees to contribute in unexpected ways.4.
The main road that runs through the classic campus feels almost like a regular city street, with amenities including restaurants, a dry cleaning service, a bank and an arcade where employees can take a break from work.5.
Inside Facebook’s arcade, vintage video games allow employees to clear their heads and get away from their desks.6.
On Facebook’s expansive rooftop garden, wayfinding signs help point employees and guests toward the building’s lobbies and meeting spaces. Art is incorporated throughout the campus.7.
Between MPK 20 and MPK 21, the first two of Facebook’s three ground-up headquarters development projects, sits "The Bowl," an area composed of outdoor meeting spaces on the ground level of the projects. Construction on the third phase of development, a building called MPK 22, is underway now.8.
Among a few unexpected elements at Facebook’s headquarters is the company’s Little Free Library, where workers can take and leave books on a variety of subjects. The library is located along the classic campus’s main street, along with several other amenities for employees.9.
Lighting Bolts Smoke House is one of the restaurants on Facebook’s campus. Across all of the buildings, Facebook has 31 different eateries including vegetarian options, a sweets shop and a burger joint.10.
Across the campus, art installations are interspersed with raw or exposed construction elements. Facebook’s design strategy leaves some areas unfinished to promote the idea that the "journey is only 1 percent complete."11.
When complete, Facebook’s Menlo Park campus is designed to encompass 4 million square feet on 200 acres of land. To get employees efficiently around the campus and to local public transit, Facebook offers bikes that workers can ride between buildings, and a Wi-Fi enabled tram service with five different lines. The campus includes a transit hub to help workers learn to navigate transit options.
