A Microsoft employee holds their phone up against the construction site. Though it’s just mounds of dirt now, they can see a fully rendered model of that section of the campus.
That’s an example of how Microsoft Director of Real Estate and Facilities Keith Donovan said his team may use the company’s technology during the headquarters build-out, which will add 3 million square feet of space to the campus — including 500,000 square feet of amenities.
“We’ve got 40,000 employees on campus that need to know what we’re doing,” Donovan said. “They need to be as excited about it as we are. So a lot of work is going into evangelizing the project through this digital content as a marketing effort.”
Donovan spoke during a Seattle Design Festival panel Monday about how the company is using technology throughout the multibillion-dollar campus renovation. Microsoft is designing the buildings and constructing the underlying foundation, looking specifically at what infrastructure may be needed to support connections between physical and technology environments.
“Over the next couple years, we will see what kind of devices need to be set, and what kind of experiences, and what are the ethics involved in that?” Donovan said. “What are the technology and personal and human limitations or opportunities related to these devices and experiences that will ultimately come to bear for our employees?”
Microsoft has demolished 13 of its oldest buildings and is building 17 new ones across 72 acres of the headquarters, Donavan said. Those buildings will hold 12,000 of the company’s employees.
Microsoft is using its own products like HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality to design and build the campus, and is considering ways to integrate Android and IOS as field work begins. Donovan said they’re using these technologies to conduct virtual and mixed reality presentations for company leaders and other approving bodies, and to collaborate during design and construction.
They’re also using their tech to communicate project details. At last count, Donovan said that 72 firms are engaged in design and construction of the campus.
“The size of this project is amazing. We’ve got four different contractors, we’ve got five architects, three project managers, probably another two dozen individual consultants on it,” Donovan said. “That’s a whole lot of people to make sure they’re reading your emails and reading your meeting minutes at the end of the day."
