New FB HQ ‘finished ahead of schedule and under budget’

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg yesterday said the new Facebook building in Menlo Park, California is the first building in Silicon Valley to have been finished ahead of schedule and under budget – even though it was designed by famous architect Frank Gehry.
In a post in his Facebook timeline yesterday, Zuckerberg said Gehry – known for his design of iconic buildings like the Guggenheim Museum in Spain and the Louis Vuitton Foundation building in Paris – approached him when the company first announced that it was adding a building to its campus.
“Frank Gehry reached out and asked to design it. He really believes in our mission to connect the world,” Zuckerberg said.
“But even though we all loved his architecture, we initially said no. We figured he would be very expensive and that would send the wrong signal about our culture,” he added.
But Zuckerberg said Gehry came back to them “and said we should go get other bids and that he would beat them all – and he did.”
Zuckerberg said he soon learned that most building construction wastes a lot of materials and time due to poor planning. “Frank has designed special software to assist in his architecture, so he’s very efficient,” he said.
He said in the end, the Facebook building finished ahead of schedule and under budget.
“It’s the only construction project I’ve ever heard of achieving this. It ended up costing us much less than any other major developments planned in Silicon Valley and taking way less time to build,” he added.
Facebook moved to its new building on March 31. In a post on that day, Zuckerberg said the company’s goal was “to create the perfect engineering space for our teams to work together.”
“We wanted our space to create the same sense of community and connection among our teams that we try to enable with our services across the world. To do this, we designed the largest open floor plan in the world – a single room that fits thousands of people,” he said.
“There are lots of small spaces where people can work together, and it’s easy for people to move around and collaborate with anyone here. On the roof is a 9-acre park with walking trails and many outdoor spaces to sit and work,” he added.
Zuckerberg said the building itself is “pretty simple and isn’t fancy.”
“That’s on purpose. We want our space to feel like a work in progress. When you enter our buildings, we want you to feel how much left there is to be done in our mission to connect the world,” he said. Edge Davao