Redmond campus plan

The latest issue of Wired magazine, cataloging the perks of working at various corporate campuses, gives this list for Microsoft:

"Foosball, Ping-Pong, Xbox consoles stashed in alcoves, 2,800 original works of art, free beverages, whale-watching excursions, 25 cafeterias, Starbucks stands, private lake, baseball diamond, soccer field, volleyball courts, campus shuttle, office movie day."

The timing of that blurb was ironic, because Microsoft's redevelopment plan, details of which emerged this week, would include construction of buildings on the big softball and soccer fields at the center of Microsoft's main Redmond campus. However, the plans also would effectively replace the current fields with new ones on the opposite side of state Route 520, the highway that divides the east and west sides of Microsoft's campus.

That proposed change was a small piece of the overall plan shown by the company during open houses for employees and the public yesterday. (See our story in today's paper for more details on the public session.) To get a sense for the broader proposal, see this overview map and, from a different perspective, this three-dimensional rendering, in which the bright orange structures are new buildings and parking garages.

Microsoft says the overall plan would add a net total of 2.2 million square feet to the campus, which currently totals about 8 million square feet. It would be constructed over the next 10 to 20 years, creating room for an additional 10,000 to 12,000 employees. The Redmond City Council is slated to consider the plan in the next several weeks.

Posted by Todd Bishop at January 28, 2005 08:18 AM