Constitution, Menlo Park
The project includes two 8-story buildings with 500,000 square feet of office space, two parking structures, a pocket park and a linear park along Bayfront Expressway. After the developer’s portion of the project was complete, we began tenant improvements at the office buildings: a collaboration between Facebook, WRNS and Thuilot Associates.
A pedestrian flow interweaves from sidewalk to plaza inviting public interface, particularly at the outward reaching bench designed with a unique polycarbonate resin seat. Closer to the building, translucent fin walls, living walls, and a sculpture wall provide screening from a courtyard designed for employee use. The street frontage at Constitution Drive features promenades defined by low Corten walls within linear masses of planting at the sidewalk. Viewers enjoy a tapestry of shapes, elements, planting, and people moving through the very walkable environment.
The design of the public pocket park is an homage to the historic landscape at this site: the sweeping grasses of meadow meeting marshland. The graceful walkways create a space where users can appreciate a reflective work of art on the wall of the adjacent parking structure. Another open space, the linear park provides walking paths, planted garden space, and a striking view from the new office building. The park design makes a graphic connection to the neighboring wetlands with paths weaving rhythmically through waves of grasslands and fields of low succulents, allowing visitors a range of views and experiences.