Facebook tops the list of Silicon Valley’s coolest offices with new headquarters

TORONTO – Facebook can now call Silicon Valley’s hottest new address home.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company have officially moved into their new headquarters, dubbed MPK 20 for “Menlo Park, Building 20.” The sprawling 430,000-square-foot campus – located in Menlo Park, California – is the latest Silicon Valley office to make headlines, thanks to its size and quirky features.

What makes this new building so special, you might ask?

Well, not only was it designed by famed Canadian-born architect Frank Gehry – best known for the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in Spain and the redevelopment of Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario – it also features a nine-acre rooftop park and at least one meeting room that has been turned into an adult-sized ball pit.

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Of course, there is also a vast array of modern art and museum-worthy furniture found inside the office, which Zuckerberg describes as “the largest open floor plan in the world” – designed to look like a “single room” that can hold thousands of people.

“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,” wrote Zuckerberg on his Facebook page.

As employees move into their new digs, Instagram is filled with photos that suggest the space is less work-in-progress and more office-oasis.

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Facebook isn’t the first tech company to wow employees with office upgrades.

Apple has begun construction on its new “Spaceship” campus – a futuristic building that will feature curved glass panels, a private auditorium for Apple’s famous keynotes and a 360-degree nature view.

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Google also recently submitted a proposal for a new campus in Mountain View, Calif., that would rival Apple’s “Spaceship” design. According to renderings shown in a Google blog post, the building would look like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Google’s current Mountain View office is already a tourist attraction thanks to its Android-cartoon character-covered lawns and driverless car-laden streets.

What tourists can’t see is the inside of the building – home to a bowling alley, seven fitness centres and those gourmet kitchens everyone hears about.

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These employee perks aren’t just limited to those working in Silicon Valley. Google’s Toronto office has everything from wilderness themed rooms complete with tents to camp out in, to a mini putt course on the roof. There is even a secret room hidden behind a revolving bookcase, in case a Googler needs a moment alone.