Microsoft : Building the workspace of the future

A community plaza where employees can gather, learn, and play. Car-free zones and a cross-campus bridge just for pedestrians and bicyclists. Energy-optimized smart buildings; spaces to spark creativity with teammates; trees, trails, and transit close at hand.

A major redevelopment is coming to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, one that will rocket forward a modern vision of workspace that has already started, in recent years, to lift off across the campus and the globe.

The technology-fueled, multiphase project will empower employee collaboration and community connections, add 18 new buildings, upgrade existing workspaces, and enhance sustainability.

'We are building the kind of space we need for the future. We're building for the employees here now and the eighth graders who will be here one day,' said Michael Ford, general manager of Global Real Estate and Facilities. 'In the past, the employee had to flex to the space. Now, the space flexes to the employee.'

The launchpad for the modernization, which will add 2.5 million square feet of new office space to the 500-acre headquarters, is the cluster of buildings at the heart of the original Microsoft campus. Iconic in their own way, the 1980s-era, X-shaped buildings were designed to offer employees plenty of natural light and nearly identical offices. Today, however, the low-ceilinged, many-hallwayed buildings can feel more like a series of mazes, where it's easy to drift in circles.

But as mindsets and culture have transformed, so has the thinking about how we want to work, create, and connect. Focus and privacy can be found in a soundproof drop-in phone booth or upholstered alcove; inspiration (and, according to research, employee health) can soar in a light-filled atrium, cushy couches providing a welcome landing space for team touchdowns. Impromptu conversations, encouraged by communal work 'neighborhoods,' can lead to innovation; better productivity; and faster, more agile development.

These are the types of spaces that will define the Microsoft headquarters modernization and will infuse other building and campus investments coming up in Ireland, India, Israel, Silicon Valley, Brazil, and elsewhere. Designers say that these are the transformations that will bridge where we are with where we're going.

The headquarters renovation is set to break ground in fall 2018 and will take from five to seven years to complete. After older buildings are taken down and new ones are added, Microsoft's presence in the Seattle area will go from 125 buildings today to 131 buildings. The project will more seamlessly connect both halves of the campus, divided by State Route 520, via a foot- and bicycle-only bridge that will link Microsoft, the Redmond Technology transit station where light rail is slated to arrive in six years, and the nearby regional trail. The walk from the center of one side of campus to the center of the other will take about 7 minutes after the renovation, compared to up to 22 minutes today.

Innovative, accessible design-informed by years of research, input, and testing around employees' needs and work styles, as well as by Microsoft's deep roots in the community -will shape the project's interior, exterior, and underground spaces.

'We're taking what we've already started-intelligent workspaces, sustainable systems-and moving it to the next level,' Ford said. 'We will further improve the employee experience by utilizing technologies, powered by the Microsoft Cloud, throughout the workplace.'

For instance, Ford said, a campus-wide mobile app will make it easier for employees to book one of the company's Connector commuter or intracampus shuttles, order lunch, or check their favorite cafeteria to see how busy it is.

While every aspect of Microsoft's campus refresh will be infused with technology, Bill Lee, director of Real Estate, Planning, and Development, doesn't think of it as designing for technology but as designing for humanity.

'People are getting more technologically connected: if you leave your phone at home, you're going back to get it; if you leave your wallet, you keep driving. Technology is part of us, and we are designing for humanity because technology is already part of humanity.'

By connecting employees and helping them collaborate, modernized workspaces will make problem solving easier. Some of this transformation has already begun with recent projects in Redmond and beyond.