Connecting Contemporary Workplace to the Outdoors
CMG began working with Meta in 2011 when the former Sun Microsystems campus was acquired and became the first site of their new Headquarters in Menlo Park. Now called Classic Campus, the central courtyard space was re-envisioned to reflect company values of openness and transparency. These principles were a springboard for the design in helping to define program, connecting to the outdoors, and reflecting the social life of public spaces. In 2012, we began our collaboration with Gehry Partners to imagine Bayfront Campus, an 80-acre underutilized brownfield site adjacent to Classic Campus. On the ground level, CMG led a range of ecologists, engineers, arborists, and soil scientists to remediate and repurpose landscape. On-structure, multi-level gardens integrated throughout a series of buildings animate experience by bridging design, technology, and stewardship. Programming reflects mobility, flexibility, and social interactions that define contemporary workplaces and highlight the importance of culture and place to business.
Connecting people with nature helps builds vocabulary and stimulate discussion about the importance and beauty of life existing around us. We believe that if people are brought closer to nature within their everyday experiences, there will be more respect and joy for it. It’s vital to motivate people to participate in this stewardship. At Meta’s Headquarters, bringing the landscape into the workplace is intentional and deliberate – encounters with nature become a part of daily experience.
