Facebook Menlo Park Headquarters Now Open

Tweet

Menlo Park has a new resident. And they’ve got 800 million friends worldwide. Facebook has detailed the first few steps in its move to their new headquarters at 1601 Willow Road. With the move, we also get a peek at Facebook’s corporate culture, and how they plan to encourage innovation among their ranks.

There are no private offices or cubicles, writes Facebook’s global director of real estate John Tenanes, of their new office campus in Menlo Park. With Facebook’s roots in a Harvard dorm room, the company wants to stick to its small startup culture, so that it can move fast and innovate, when competitors are struggling with their gigantic corporate organizations.

This can perhaps give use a sneak peek of how Facebook works. Compared with other companies like Apple, which values secrecy and closed doors, Facebook actually values transparency and openness. Here’s what Facebook’s new campus will offer its employees:

• Chalkboard paint on the walls, so that ideas can be scrawled, scribbled and discussed.
• Unfinished look and feel, to remind that “work is never done.”
• Central courtyard with two full-service cafes, two coffee shops, on-site clinics, and fitness center.
• Hundreds of conference rooms and “cozies” for discussing projects. Conference rooms have glass walls for transparency, though.
• Micro-kitchens for snacks or meals.

But perhaps another important highlight is how Facebook is focusing on being green with their new office campus. The company plans to pursue LEED Gold Certification for its use of sustainable building practices. Facebook has recycled all the doors in the campus, and is discouraging staff from bringing individual cars. Instead, employees are encouraged to use bikes, free shuttles and a social ride sharing service, Zimride. Almost half of Facebook employees use these programs as an alternative to single car sharing. The campus also offers recycling and composting facilities.

Facebook is growing fast, and may never actually return to its startup roots, in fact. With a rumored IPO coming in 2012, and an estimated value of $100 billion, they’re probably the biggest “small” company ever.