Amazon opened its new downtown Seattle office space on Monday, revealing a campus that looks more like a rainforest than a typical cubicle farm.
The reveal of the new Sphere Complex comes after the world’s largest online retailer spent seven years planning and constructing a cutting-edge space that it hopes will help spark its employees’ creativity. Rather than the usual mix of closed hallways and traditional conference rooms, the space features winding walkways that lead to hidden nooks and open spaces peppered with tables and chairs. And this being a tech office, the wifi is even accessible in “the nest”—a meeting space ensconced in a wooden structure that resembles a bird’s nest.
As striking as the structure itself is the vast world of plant life it contains. The Spheres’ three glass domes are home to some 40,000 plants from all around the world—including 55-foot tall tree, nicknamed Rubi, short for Ficus rubiginosa.
Amazon invested $3.7 billion on buildings and infrastructure in Seattle from 2010 to summer 2017, a figure that has not escaped the notice of cities competing for “HQ2,” its second headquarters. Amazon has said that it expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction of HQ2 and to create as many as 50,000 jobs.
Check out the gallery above for a look inside the unconventional office.
