Facebook just finished construction on a new, park-topped mothership by famous architect Frank Gehry, and immediately, the company filed plans for two more Gehry-designed buildings. They’re of similar design and scale, according to the L.A. Times, and they’re to be built next door, adding almost a million square feet to the campus.
The two new buildings will be right across the street from the new Gehry flagship, built upon Facebook’s recent 56-acre land purchase in Menlo Park. One building will be used for special events and parties that can accommodate up to 2,000 people.
Gehry often takes heat for his work in urban environments–for making singular architectural statements that ignore a city’s context. Take his “sparkling artichoke” in downtown Los Angeles or his melted ice cube of a building on Manhattan’s West Side. How they fit into their respective neighborhoods is anyone’s guess. But when you’re talking about a massive office park, like Facebook’s, there’s no real context to consider or accommodate. Gehry might be the perfect designer for Facebook.
[via Archinect]