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Comment by ssttoo | Hacker News Reader

He also designed a Facebook’s office in Menlo Park. The roof was literally a park, seemingly blending with the bay and you could go for a nice nature stroll mid-day by just going up a flight of stairs. https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/facebook-campus-in-menlo-...

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I worked in this building. It was terrible. Low light, completely open office, people walking around you all the time, extremely noisy, pretty ugly (the roof-top garden was the exception). My team expensed noise cancelling headphones because it was so loud.

MPK 22 was also designed by Gehry Partners, which was a massive improvement on the inside, but outside is still kinda terrible in my opinion: https://www.truebeck.com/project/facebook-mpk-22/

Not surprising to hear. I mean Gehry has always been more flair than quality. His studio has probably weakest execution from all of the star architects. But it's a great brand i guess thats why you hire Gehry.

I mean, having been in that building a few times, and working on the other side of the street, it's pretty clear the reason that building is such a disaster is that the architects did what the clients asked for. I like to give Gehry the benefit of the doubt, maybe that's cause he guest starred on Arthur. But you can only tell the client they're dumb and their building will suck to be in so many times before you just go ahead and let them have their hellscape.

The roof was pretty nice though.

Wow you weren't kidding. The insides of that looks like an absolute hellscape. Like a whole floor is missing and they just set up shop in a warehouse!

I’ve spent some time there, and it did seem like a building that was primarily designed for satellite view — never mind what goes on inside.

Same. Echo chamber hell. I appreciated the modernness of the interior as a design nerd, though it was uncomfortable as a primary desk for all the reasons you’ve said. Never mind the never ending flood of visitors up and down the walkways.

The roof was the main reprieve about the entire environment, wonderfully maintained and honestly a blessing to escape the main campus.

Nonetheless. Frank is a legend, very fortunate to have been able to been able to experience his work on a daily basis.

It’s really fun to explore, no two spaces are alike, and lots of nooks and crannies. Definitely in my top 5 favorite buildings on campus and in Cambridge.

Did he design the yellow pedestrian/biker bridge connecting Facebook to the the Bayfront? I recently drove underneath it and it's quite interesting.

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