During the lease negotiation, I sent the landlord a long list of upgrades we wanted—at our expense, of course. Glass partitions, floor-to-ceiling mosaic tile, imported German fittings by Dornbracht, granite and marble—and that was just what we wanted for the shower. …
Like many architects who do a lot of commercial work, they were thrilled to finally have a client ask for something other than cheap. These poor architects get out of grad school, imagining all the creative, artistic spaces they will design, and they get their first clients, and they sit down for a meeting, and they start talking about negative space and permeability and modernism, and the clients cut them off and say, “Actually, we want cheap.” …
So if you ever hire an architect and tell him or her to create something cool enough to put in a portfolio to show to potential clients, and you invite the architect to make a beautiful and useful space instead of a cheap and nasty space, the architect will love you and go to the ends of the earth to figure out ways to raise the ceilings another 2 inches. Which is why we’re going to have a great space to move into at the end of the summer.
There will be a reception area with a dry creek of stones and pebbles and plants that will make a great first impression on our guests. There will be a big lunchroom, because we all eat together, as well as a coffee bar, a lounge, a 180-gallon saltwater aquarium, the aforementioned shower, a library with reclining chairs for naps, two private meeting rooms, 20 private offices for programmers, 23 adjustable-height workstations for everyone else, Wi-Fi, a big screen for movies and video games, and enough glass to build the world’s largest ant farm. We will have some room to grow, finally. And in two years, if all goes well, it will be too small for us.
Related: Google Office in Zurich, Google Benefits
Facebook Benefits: Medical, dental and vision plans with no premium for employees; 401(k) plan; 21 vacation days per year, plus 8 company holidays; Day care subsidy for parents; Complimentary catered breakfast, lunch and dinner daily; Dry cleaning and laundry service onsite; Free downtown parking permit; Subsidized gym membership; Up to 4 months paid parental leave; Your option of 15″ Apple MacBook Pro or IBM ThinkPad with large screen LCD monitor.
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