Dezeen Wire: architect Frank Gehry (pictured above, left) is designing the new campus for social media giant Facebook, which claims it will be the largest open-plan office in the world.
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The building will accommodate 2800 engineers underneath a green roof on the edge of San Francisco Bay and construction could begin early next year.
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"I'm excited to work with Frank Gehry to design our new campus," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured above, centre and below, left) posted on his own Facebook timeline. "The idea is to make the perfect engineering space: one giant room that fits thousands of people, all close enough to collaborate together. It will be the largest open floor plan in the world, but it will also have plenty of private, quiet spaces as well."
"The roof of the building will be a park that blends into the community with a long walking trail, a field and lots of places to sit. From the outside it will appear as if you're looking at a hill in nature."
In April 2013, Facebook asked Frank Gehry to "tone down" his original plans for the new Silicon Valley campus.
See Facebook's Palo Alto offices designed by Studio O+A in 2009 in our earlier story and see all our stories about Frank Gehry here.
See all our stories about technology companies »
Portraits are by Everett Katigbak, Facebook. Model shots are by Frank Gehry/Gehry Partners.
Here's some more information from Facebook:
The whole campus has been designed to take into account Facebook's way of working and culture. It is one, large office that will be broken up by conference rooms and break-away spaces, with a parking structure underneath. There will be a rooftop garden, as well as a ground level one. Frank is famous for his ability to execute on the wishes of his client while keeping his projects within their budget. As such, the costs of the campus will be considerably lower than most of Frank's previous work. This is especially true as the building is designed to be simple—almost like a giant warehouse, rather than a monument to Frank or Mark. It's emphasis is on functionality, rather than extravagance.
» It will be one, large building set atop a parking structure
» We will plant a number of trees along the ground level (where now there is only empty land), and we'll extend that into a rooftop garden that will cover the entire building.
» The place will hold up to 2,800 employees and will be an engineering-only office
» We will keep our old campus and use a tunnel under the highway to connect the two