New Frank Gehry-Designed Facebook Campus Reflects Culture Of Openness And Transparency

Joining Google, Apple and Samsung in setting up headquarters in modern marvels, Facebook called on the expertise of Frank Gehry and set up operations in a new facility designed by the renowned architect.

MPK 20, as the new facility is called, was constructed at Facebook's Menlo Park campus. The green facility, LEED certified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), was built on a design scheme that draws inspiration from Facebook's culture of openness and transparency, according to Gehry.

"[Zuckerberg] did not want it overly designed," said Gehry. "It also had to be flexible to respond to the ever-changing nature of his business; one that facilitated collaboration and one that did not impose itself on their open and transparent culture."

Facebook welcomed popular Instagramers into MPK 20 to give the outside world a peek inside the facility, which is over 430,000 square feet. The place will serve somewhere around 2,800 staffers and visitors. Facebook employees are slowly filing into MPK 20, although it will be a while before the facility is full.

"FB worked with 15 artists on the new artwork in the building. Every piece was created on site and is meant to speak abstractly to what FB does - many of the pieces are a nod to connections, community, networks and systems," stated Instagramer d.leong. The majority of the new facility is underground, which has given Facebook plenty of green space atop a roof that would have been covered by concrete. The roof is instead covered by a large swath of grass, park benches and about 400 newly planted trees. From the very beginning of the collaboration on the project, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought a facility that was "unassuming, matter-of-fact" and practical, Gehry stated. The building is designed around one grand, open room that will also group to form organically.

"We always want to be a place where we're offering cool new things in an environment where the most talented, best and brightest want to come work, and this building will reflect that," Lori Goler, Facebook's vice president of human resources, said a week before MPK 20 opened.

As MPK 20 receives Facebook employees from the Sun campus, questions still remain about the 56 acres of land the company acquired last year. There is some speculation that residential and retail buildings may be erected on the land. Check out some more pictures of MPK 20 below: