By Rory Stott

After Facebook began its move into its new Frank Gehry-designed headquarters last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has praised his architect for his work. In a post on his personal Facebook page yesterday, Zuckerberg shares the story of how Gehry he initially turned down Gehry’s request to design the project, saying that “even though we all loved his architecture… We figured he would be very expensive and that would send the wrong signal about our culture.”

But Frank Gehry persisted, saying that he would match any bids the company received. As a result, Zuckerberg has now praised Gehry – somewhat uncharacteristically – for being “very efficient.”

Read Zuckerberg’s full statement, after the break.

“I want to share a story as we settle into our new building at Facebook. When we first announced we were adding a building to our campus, Frank Gehry reached out and asked to design it. He really believes in our mission to connect the world. But even though we all loved his architecture, we initially said no. We figured he would be very expensive and that would send the wrong signal about our culture.

“Frank came back to us and said we should go get other bids and that he would beat them all — and he did. As I learned, most building construction wastes a lot of materials and time due to poor planning. Frank has designed special software to assist in his architecture, so he’s very efficient.

“In the end, our building finished ahead of schedule and under budget. It’s the only construction project I’ve ever heard of achieving this. It ended up costing us much less than any other major developments planned in Silicon Valley and taking way less time to build.” – Mark Zuckerberg

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Source:: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ArchDaily/~3/ZoiB8EgDvkU/