Major tech players like Apple, Facebook, Nvidia and Samsung have invested billions of dollars in their respective headquarters and workspaces. Now, we can add Microsoft to the growing list of companies looking to spruce up their campus.
The Redmond-based firm recently announced a multi-year campus refresh that'll break ground next fall. The project will include 18 new buildings, 6.7 million square feet of renovated workspace and $150 million in transportation infrastructure improvements as well as new public spaces, green spaces and sports fields.
A two-acre open plaza, for example, will accommodate up to 12,000 people and sounds ideal for social gatherings, concerts and the like.
The campus will primarily be built for pedestrian and bike traffic as all vehicles will be moved to an underground parking facility.
Brad Smith, Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, said the new campus will be more open and less formal. It'll feature work areas that are divided into a series of "team neighborhoods" with plenty of natural light, an environment that Smith believes will foster the type of creativity needed for ongoing innovation in the tech industry.
Once complete, Microsoft's main campus will consist of 131 buildings with enough room to support its 47,000 existing employees and up to 8,000 more that it'll eventually hire. No word yet on the estimated cost although I suspect the construction budget will be in the billions.
Of course, an undertaking of this scale won't materialize overnight. Microsoft estimates the project could take up to seven years to complete and will involve the creation of roughly 2,500 construction and development jobs.