Apple announced its 'spaceship' first. Then Facebook came along and promoted its vision. Now it's Amazon's bubble-filled future. No, these companies aren't grabbing headlines thanks to new technologies, they're getting headlines because of new office campuses.
Those campuses, however, could suggest more than only large bank accounts - they could either signal a new turn in how modern office buildings are designed, or signal the turning point, and decline, of today's major tech players.
Apple was the first major tech company to promote a new campus, and its submission is the most ambitious by far. The new campus features one 2.8 million square foot building on a 176 acre plot of land, a gym, room for 12,000 employees, a 1,000 person auditorium and 300,000 square feet of research space. The building is is dubbed "The Spaceship," and was one of the last projects Steve Jobs worked on before dying in 2011.
Amazon, similarly, is planning to build three 65,000 square-foot steel and glass domes in downtown Seattle, Washington. References to the movie Biodome have been tossed around jokingly in reference to Amazon's planned complex, but the comparison is apt: Amazon, according to The Daily Mail, said its buildings will feature botanical zones from different climates surrounding its downtown offices.
Google says it has outgrown its Mountain View campus, and is planning to build a massive 1.1 million square foot complex called "Bay View." The new Googleplex will feature nine buildings, and no two buildings would be more than a two-and-a-half minute walk, according to Reuters.
That planned complex isn't too far from Facebook's headquarters, where a new building is being planned for construction. The social network's new addition in Menlo Park, designed by architect Frank Gehry, will feature the largest open office space in the world, allowing up to 3,500 software engineers to collaborate in one space. The building will be topped with a park and trees.
But as Reuters reports, such massive, and expensive, construction operations have historically translated to a peak in a company's fortunes.
"I've been thinking the Apple spaceship is going to get nicknamed the 'Death Star' because the project is so big and the timing is so bad," hedge fund manager Jeff Matthews of Ram Partners said to Reuters. "It is such a classic contrary indicator that you just get the shakes."
