Microsoft announces major overhaul of its Redmond campus

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

Microsoft's Redmond campus is in for a major facelift.

Microsoft has announced (opens in new tab) a massive overhaul to its main campus in Redmond, Washington. Set to start in earnest in fall 2018, the project will see 18 new buildings and 2.5 million square feet of new office space added to the campus.

As part of the project, Microsoft will also tear down older buildings that no longer fit its needs. However, the net result will be an increase from 125 buildings today to 131 buildings once the project is complete. The expansion will add enough room for 8,000 more people, and the construction itself will involve around 2,500 construction and development jobs over the course of the five to seven years it will take to complete.

In a post announcing the overhaul (opens in new tab), Microsoft President Brad Smith stated:

As our employees create the tools and services of the future workspace for our customers, it's important they have a campus that reflects that future for themselves. We will create that workplace in part by applying our learnings from our other recent campus redevelopment projects in Redmond, Vancouver B.C. and the Paddington office in London, and how they have enabled teams to collaborate, showcase our workspace and related technologies for customers and, most importantly, enhance the experience for employees. Our new campus will be more open and less formal, divided into a series of "team neighborhoods" while capturing more natural light and fostering the type of creativity that will lead to ongoing innovation to advance the industry and benefit our customers."

The expansion will also see the addition of a 2-acre open plaza that can fit up to 12,000 people, walking trails, soccer and cricket facilities, and retail space. Moving around campus will also become quite a bit easier, with the addition of an underground parking facility, as well as a foot- and cyclist-only bridge across WA-520 to connect both sides of campus. The bridge will also tie into a forthcoming Link Light Rail station set to arrive in 2023.

Work on the campus overhaul will begin in fall 2018 and is expected to last up to seven years.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

10 Comments
  • Yet, there is no mention in the plan for energy self-sustainabilty off the public power grid. Only a mention to monitor usage using Azure. I applaud the overall effort but if Microsoft is committed to the future, now would be the time to launch that initiative more fully.
  • looks like all the cash saved from the layoffs and killing windows phone has paid off....... :-/
  • Exactly what I was thinking.get rid of the main clown at ms
  • Honestly, I think that design looks very disordered and amalgamated. It doesn't seem to have any flow at all.
  • The plot shape isn't great so that's a limiting factor. I think it's much more attractive and imaginative than Apple's Circle which they built. Microsoft are renowned from function over form and this complex proves it.
  • Hmmm, TWO soccer (football) fields, and a Cricket pitch. Gotta keep all those H1B Engineers they hire at 1/3 the cost of an American Engineer happy........ Two softball fields for the fat old white guys. That's right. I said it. Prove me wrong.
  • No basketball 🏀 or volleyball 🏐 courts!?
  • "Gotta keep all those H1B Engineers they hire at 1/3 the cost of an American Engineer happy" Stop propagating this horseshit. By your numbers there are FTEs there that make $30-$40k per year, which is just utter nonsense. 
  • I never said FTE's. Most of the H1Bs are contractors who work for the Contracting company, not MS (and not even under H1B all the time, there is another one I can't remember right now they work under, and yes, they only make $30-$40K per year.) My company replaced 200 FTEs with an Indian contracting company, and plans to do the rest of us in the next few years. Pull your head out of the sand and look around.
  • "and yes, they only make $30-$40K per year" If you know this for sure then you could make a ton of money as a whistleblower, as H1-B requires a minimum salary of $60k. Please post back when you've collected your reward.