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Facebook Designing New Campus

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Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#41

Post by coecoventures »

troymc wrote: post #20
holman wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My visceral reaction to the idea of one giant room was "Rad". Love open floor plans. I'm really curious what the final interior plan will look like; presumably it's not some huge airplane hanger of openness but some clever way of staying open-while-interesting. Like you, though, I'm just excited at the prospect of larger companies doing something different. Should be fun to watch.

They (Facebook) should really look at what research has found before they jump feet-first into having an open floor plan. It's not like they've just invented it! Open floor plans were invented as a way to cram more people into less space, thereby minimizing cost of office space per employee. They were not invented to improve productivity.

37 Signals has a great approach where they have open office space, phone booths for private calls, and meeting rooms of varying sizes.

Speaking of research, they should also find out how much it costs to maintain a Ghery building. If you think Facebook stock is bad now wait until you see how a Ghery building affects their bottom line.

Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#42

Post by coecoventures »

robryan wrote: post #7
dsr_ wrote: post #5

I wouldn't say that this is the worst possibly use of Facebook's money, but I would rank it up there. Building a new HQ is largely an exercise in vanity and boasting. There is almost always an existing building that would serve just fine, otherwise. "The largest open floor plan in the world"? Oy. I hope they hire some good acoustics folks before they finish the planning stages.

Would you say the same thing about Apple's building or is that different as they have more money to spend? I think it may be worth it, a big part of hiring the best talent now is creating an environment that they enjoy rather than dread being in. Not that the open plan office is for everyone.

The new Apple mothership and the Ghery Facebook HQ share an affection for poor planning. Neither will be able to accommodate future growth and renovating existing facilities will be difficult logistically. Being able to afford it today doesn't mean they'll be able to afford it in the future. Hopefully they'll be using recyclable materials since neither facility has been designed for permanence.

Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#44

Post by coecoventures »

nickm12 wrote: post #32

I worked for a number of years in the MIT Stata Center, an office building designed by Gehry. It was a trainwreck on so many levels. This article ( http://www.fastcompany.com/641146/lost-funhouse ) details the some of the construction issues, but even if the building had been watertight, on budget, and on time, the design itself made it difficult to work in.

Indeed. The quality of design affects the quality of construction. The cost per square foot is typically shocking and the Ghery definitely places form over function. After visiting many buildings by Ghery, Hadid, Holl, and Libeskind I've found them all to be lacking. If you prefer modern design with refinement seek out Ando or Meier. There are plenty of others, as well, who have much more talent.

Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#45

Post by rdl »

nickm12 wrote: post #32

I worked for a number of years in the MIT Stata Center, an office building designed by Gehry. It was a trainwreck on so many levels. This article ( http://www.fastcompany.com/641146/lost-funhouse ) details the some of the construction issues, but even if the building had been watertight, on budget, and on time, the design itself made it difficult to work in.

Yeah, Gehry made I.M. Pei look practical and user-driven, which is probably his greatest achievement to date.

(Some of the Pei buildings were decent, but really none of the newer MIT buildings were all that great. Building 20 actually exceeded most of the new buildings in functionality, and it was a wooden shack. Even the "core" buildings around the IC are kind of defective in a lot of ways. Sad for a university with an architecture school.)

Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#46

Post by rdl »

coecoventures wrote: post #44
nickm12 wrote: post #32

I worked for a number of years in the MIT Stata Center, an office building designed by Gehry. It was a trainwreck on so many levels. This article ( http://www.fastcompany.com/641146/lost-funhouse ) details the some of the construction issues, but even if the building had been watertight, on budget, and on time, the design itself made it difficult to work in.

Indeed. The quality of design affects the quality of construction. The cost per square foot is typically shocking and the Ghery definitely places form over function. After visiting many buildings by Ghery, Hadid, Holl, and Libeskind I've found them all to be lacking. If you prefer modern design with refinement seek out Ando or Meier. There are plenty of others, as well, who have much more talent.

The Norman Foster buildings I've been in have been pretty good. Apple made the right choice.

I wonder if there will be some amazing Chinese architects in the next decades, given their pace of construction.

Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#47

Post by coecoventures »

rdl wrote: post #46
coecoventures wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. The quality of design affects the quality of construction. The cost per square foot is typically shocking and the Ghery definitely places form over function. After visiting many buildings by Ghery, Hadid, Holl, and Libeskind I've found them all to be lacking. If you prefer modern design with refinement seek out Ando or Meier. There are plenty of others, as well, who have much more talent.

The Norman Foster buildings I've been in have been pretty good. Apple made the right choice. I wonder if there will be some amazing Chinese architects in the next decades, given their pace of construction.

Foster as well as Piano have some very refined work. Foster is at his best when doing renovations and additions. He has a very delicate approach which is handsome and actually celebrates and enhances the existing structure.

I'm still waiting for some great Chinese architects to step up. They aren't given much room to flex their talents, however, due to the very brand conscious nature of the consumer. For instance there is a recently completed Ghery building here in Hong Kong with a flat on the 8th floor listed for $400 million Hong Kong Dollars, or roughly $51.5 million USD. Insane. But that's what the market is after.

Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#48

Post by drgath »

underwater wrote: post #25
troymc wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They (Facebook) should really look at what research has found before they jump feet-first into having an open floor plan. It's not like they've just invented it! Open floor plans were invented as a way to cram more people into less space, thereby minimizing cost of office space per employee. They were not invented to improve productivity.

Facebook offices have always been open plan. I personally like it. It can occasionally been frustrating, but overall the benefits outweigh the negatives for the way we work. I don't believe that it has ever been about minimizing costs. Many people work from home or camp out in a small meeting room if they want privacy. There are also over ear head phones available for free all around the campus.

> I don't believe that it has ever been about minimizing costs.

At Facebook, no, it hasn't been. What parent is saying is that he hopes FB did some research on whether this will actually help or hurt productivity before risking the lifeblood of the company (engineer productivity).

Re: Facebook Designing New Campus

#50

Post by staunch »

EricDeb wrote: post #23
staunch wrote: post #9

Every time I'm reminded of just how many programmers Facebook has it bothers me that he missed such a cool opportunity. He gets programming better than probably any BigCo tech CEO and yet he made the same damn mistake of hiring thousands upon thousands of programmers instead of just getting the 10X Programmers and having 1/10th as many while paying them 2x as much. Imagine if the budget for this 5000 person building…

For those of us who aren't those 10x programmers though I appreciate the opportunity to work at a company like Facebook...

To be clear, I'm not claiming I'd get hired there if it was run like that. I'd still rather see a company run like that.
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