Like: Facebook's new Frank Gehry-designed campus approved

Facebook has been given permission to go ahead with Frank Gehry's vision for a second campus at its California headquarters.

Thousands more people will be employed at the Menlo Park site near its current Silicon Valley base. The 433,555 square foot building will have a rooftop park and be built on a 22-acre site.

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Gehry, one of the world's most prominent architects, is known for the likes of Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

His creative partner told the local council that Facebook thought initial designs were too "flashy," reports the Palo Alto Daily News.

"They asked us to make it more anonymous," said Craig Webb.

"Frank was quite willing to tone down some of the expression of architecture in the building ... Our intent is that it almost becomes like a hillside, with the landscape really taking the forefront."

The company says 2,800 engineers will eventually work at the new site.

A tunnel will also connect the new campus with Facebook's existing building.

"It will be a large, one room building that somewhat resembles a warehouse," said Everett Katigbak, Facebook's environmental design manager, in a blog post last year.

"Just like we do now, everyone will sit out in the open with desks that can be quickly shuffled around as teams form and break apart around projects.

"There will be cafes and lots of micro-kitchens with snacks so that you never have to go hungry."

"And we'll fill the building with break-away spaces with couches and whiteboards to make getting away from your desk easy."

Facebook's expansion has seen the company grow from a Harvard dorm-room to a worldwide company with nearly 5,000 employees and more than a billion users.