Facebook's adding another Frank Gehry building to its Silicon Valley campus as part of a $303 million project

REUTERS/Noah Berger

Facebook plans to add on to its Silicon Valley campus, above.

• Facebook, whose headquarters was designed by Frank Gehry, is planning to add another building designed by the star architect to its Silicon Valley campus.
  
• The company plans to demolish five older buildings to make way for the new one.
• The total project, which will also include a park and a sky bridge to connect the new building with another one, is estimated to cost $303 million.

Facebook's Silicon Valley campus will soon include another building designed by star architect Frank Gehry.

The social networking giant filed permits last month to begin construction of the four-story, 464,000-square-foot building at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters. As part of the development, Facebook plans to demolish five other buildings and construct a 3500-spot parking garage.

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The company has already begun demolishing those buildings, spokesman Jamil Walker said in an email. Walker also confirmed the permit applications, which were originally uncovered by BuildZoom, a web service that keeps tabs on construction permits and offers building contractor recommendations.

Menlo Park's City Council approved Facebook's overall plan for the site in November, Walker noted.

"We value the ongoing partnership with the community as we work together to revitalize an aging industrial site and speed up the delivery of the community benefits promised in our development agreement," Walker said.

The plan for the includes new open space, he said. Facebook also plans to build a bridge that will connect a neighborhood just south of its campus to San Francisco Bay, which is just to its north, he said.

The new Gehry-designed building, dubbed Building 22 or MPK 22, will be constructed on the western portion of Facebook's campus. Facebook estimated the project would cost $303 million, not including furniture and equipment for the building.

The plan includes a sky bridge that will connect the new building to the campus' Building 21. That building, which is already under construction, and the main headquarters building on the campus were also designed by Gehry, who is best known for his stainless steel-clad curvilinear buildings, including Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.

One of the five buildings Facebook plans to demolish will remain standing until it completes Building 22. After the new building is completed, Facebook will replace the old one with a park and recharging facilities for employees' electric cars.