What these photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about the future of work

The Facebook shuttle waits for passengers. Photo by Nick Otto For The Washington Post

The Facebook shuttle waits for passengers. Photo by Nick Otto For The Washington Post

Deep inside Facebook’s massive new headquarters, the largest open-office workspace in the world, a rough-hewn building that feels like the idea economy’s take on the industrial factory floor, sits the desk of Lindsay Russell. The desk is a white slab, 5-feet long, no drawers. The top has room for her laptop, computer monitor and a few knickknacks. Russell, a brand strategist, also has an office chair and small file cabinet. That’s it. No coat rack. No office phone. Her just-delivered dry cleaning, handled by Facebook, hangs by its metal hangers from the desk’s lip. There are no cubicle walls. No partitions. Her desk sits cheek to jowl in a pod with five other desks, a scene repeated across the cavernous Frank Gehry-designed space filled with 2,800 Facebook employees.