West Coast tech companies seem to be in a silent race to design the most sustainable, innovative, and employee-friendly offices. Amazon and NBBJ Architects have taken an organic approach—compared to the buffet tables and recreational facilities in the headquarters of companies like Google—by constructing three spherical treehouses at the center of their low- and high-rise office buildings that will make up the company’s Seattle headquarters. A half-hour’s drive from the headquarters site, Amazon is growing over 3,000 species of plants in a one-acre greenhouse, overseen by their horticulturist Ron Gagliardo, who is prepping for the installation of the plants in the urban property.
The spheres will consist of “a plant collection worthy of top-notch conservatories, allowing Amazon employees to amble through tree canopies three stories off the ground, meet with colleagues in rooms with walls made from vines and eat kale Caesar salads next to an indoor creek.” Although Apple has similarly hired an arborist to surround their Cupertino, Calif., campus with 8,000 trees, Amazon’s urban location is unique. John Schoettler, director of Amazon’s global real estate and facilities, wants the new addition to be as iconic as Seattle’s Space Needle.
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