The new office is now the biggest and greenest in Israel and features open spaces for work and play.
Microsoft is aiming to reinvent the traditional office setup through its new Herzliya campus in Israel. The sprawling 46,000-square-meter facility is designed in the structure of a “flexible grid,” where desks and spaces can be quickly configured and reconfigured for a variety of uses. According to the company, this is in response to the shift to remote work arrangements due to the pandemic, as well as preparation for what will become the new normal. The concept of a flexible grid allows the company to easily create extra space when needed, making social distancing easier for employees.
Acoustic partitions and shelving systems were installed across the campus, which can be added or removed depending on the size of the teams. Desks have also been equipped with castors and long cables for easy relocation. The auditoriums where product launches are commonly held have been swapped out for multipurpose rooms that can be reconverted and reorganized for various uses when necessary. These new offices are expected to hold around 2,000 workers. This includes sales staff, developers, engineers, researchers, and employees from Microsoft’s venture funding arm.
Microsoft shares that the idea for the design of the campus was to “aspire the dynamic creativity of urban environments” by breaking away from the constricted office setup and encouraging more interactions between employees. The goal was to create a sort of internal “city” or “neighborhood” where workers can unwind and explore their own interests.
“A city is a place of intersection,” said Vered Gindi, the lead architect of the Herzliya campus. “You are surrounded by people, activities, and culture. You are part of something bigger than yourself. You are not just going to work; you are experiencing a lifestyle.”
To achieve this, the company has envisioned four hubs where employees can meet and perform various activities: Downtown, an industrial-style area; Midtown, the more playful space; The Garden, a green outdoor level; and Uptown, which was designed to appear like a boutique hotel. These spaces include prayer rooms, a music room, a gym, a yoga room, and even playrooms for kids.
Microsoft has also designed the Herzliya campus to be environmentally sustainable through atmospheric water generators. These generators are responsible for pulling up to 237,000 liters of fresh water every year. According to the company, this detail was particularly important due to the region’s low levels of rainfall, which makes the area prone to extreme heatwaves. Air filtration systems have also been outfitted around the campus that clean the air inside the buildings—including elevators—and collect water in the process. The devices then reuse the water to irrigate and cool the building. This is expected to save more than 3 million liters of water annually. An innovative double-skin wall and automatic blinds also help prevent the buildings from overheating.
In addition to this, the Herzliya campus is also equipped with solar cells that span over 800 square meters and provide power to all facilities.
Microsoft first began designing the campus four years ago in collaboration with Israel’s Yashar Architects and inaugurated it toward the end of 2020. An estimated $105 million was shelled out according to an earlier statement by the company. Microsoft currently has about 2,300 people employed in Israel with 2,000 under the firm’s R&D arm, which works on projects regarding cybersecurity, AI, big data, and health care. The company is also working on setting up the first new cloud data center in Israel, which is anticipated to be operational this year.
For more news and stories, check out how Amazon is utilizing cloud quantum computing along with IBM and Microsoft here.
