About one month ago, Instagram opened a new office housed in what used to be Manhattan’s Wanamaker department store showroom. In their short time of existence, the expanding social media platform has come a long way since their very first office space, which was a few rented desks inside the incubator Dogpatch Labs. From Dogpatch Labs, Instagram moved into a space in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood before moving in next to Facebook in Menlo Park after Facebook purchased the company in 2012.
The new Manhattan office’s sprawling warehouse build naturally lends itself to an open concept layout, with desks neatly arranged along the perimeter in attempts to hug the natural lighting.
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What we find most interesting about this space is the way Instagram went about creating quiet corners for employees who need a break from all the real life social interaction with coworkers. Besides an array of cleverly named conference rooms and a private photo room, the quietest corner of them all is the “library”, a small space completely shut off from the hub of desks but still in close proximity to natural lighting. Closely following the “library” is the above corner, which hosts a single chair and table under a staircase.
The “library”
There are a few other areas meant for chilling out, however most still feel like social spaces, due to the layout of furniture:
Instagram definitely has their employees covered when it comes to food. The office not only includes a fully-stocked kitchen—think a fridge filled with the entire rainbow of La Croix flavors—but also a hybrid juice and gelato bar.
Gelato and juice bar
Another cool office feature is a variety of small installations, which are presumably there to create instagrammable moments for both staff and visitors.
An example of an installationAnd finally, our favorite feature, a tech vending machine that we’re assuming is free for Instagram employees (apologies for the blurry phone photos):
Dongle replacements, anyone?
Overall, the new Instagram headquarters is exactly what we hoped it would be. The space is trendy enough to attract young employees but refreshingly tame compared to many other trendy tech offices, which overwhelmingly aim to be the apartment, office and hangout space for millennials all in one.
Source: core77