Scenes from Facebook’s Playful Headquarters

The company’s 3,500 employees work in an environment that celebrates hacking and youthful exuberance.

by MIT TR Editors
Jul 12, 2012

Facebook has big responsibilities now that its shares are publicly traded, but its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, gives the impression that the company refuses to grow up. Employees glide around the campus on skateboard-like RipStiks and join each other for drinks and games when they’re not in conference rooms whose very names reflect a disdain for convention.

A street sign on Facebook’s campus pays homage to the company’s culture. Mark Zuckerberg wrote in Facebook’s IPO prospectus that “The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it—often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.”
A view of the lobby shows some of the art that decorates the headquarters.
A stairwell bearing the motto of Facebook’s programmers.
An employee riding a RipStik.
A conference room named for a flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, just because.
One of the many minibars in the offices.
A bike rack with a graffito.
One of the open workspaces found throughout the company.
A wall where employees can doodle in Legos.
Games in one of the employee lounges.

In this gallery, we show glimpses of the campus gathered during photo shoots for our recent cover story, “What Facebook Knows.” We have applied an Instagram filter to each image, making use of the technology that Facebook bought with its largest acquisition to date.

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