Κάντε μια βόλτα στις τεράστιες εγκαταστάσεις της Microsoft

Οι εγκαταστάσεις της Microsoft βρίσκονται πέρα από τη δική μας φαντασία. Είναι γιγαντιαίες, καλύπτουν τεράστιες τοποθεσίες και όταν μπείτε θα νομίζετε πως βρίσκεστε σε φουτουριστικό πανεπιστήμιο. Υπάρχει, κυριολεκτικά, και ένας διάδρομος αφιερωμένος στο… «κόλλα πέντε» (high five).

Εδώ που τα λέμε, δεν είναι εγκαταστάσεις όσο ένα μικρό χωριό, αφού για να μετακινηθείς μεταξύ κτιρίων και τοποθεσιών χρειάζεται να πάρεις μικρά λεωφορεία.

Ιδού μερικές φωτογραφίες από το εσωτερικό των γραφείων όταν το επισκέφτηκε το Business Insider:

We started the day at Building 33, which is next to building 34 (where CEO Satya Nadella works).

Nothing particularly special about this building...or so it would seem:

But, tucked inside is Microsoft's vision for the future!

We got a tour of how Microsoft sees technology changing our lives in the future:

There's a workplace of the future, a home of the future, and more in this space.

A scooter and some ivy decorate this space:

After checking out Microsoft's home/workplace of the future, we went outside and waited for a shuttle to take us to another part of the campus.

After a longer-than-expected wait, a van showed up to shuttle us.

Inside the shuttle, you rate your experience through QR codes on your phone.

We hopped off about three minutes later at "The Commons," home to Microsoft's shopping mall and food court.

Here's a view of the space from a balcony:

Employees looking for a change of pace are welcome to use this massive soccer pitch:

Before jumping into the Commons, though, we went to Studio B.

This is what it's like in the lobby of a Microsoft building. You need a swipe card, or a Microsoft employee to get past the lobby.

Tucked in this building is Microsoft's "Model Shop," where it uses 3D printers to test out ideas for new hardware.

After a tour through the Model Shop it was back to the Commons.

Inside the Commons, there's a big elephant sculpture.

And this sweet food court:

There are also Microsoft devices on display.

Not up for some casual soccer? Pinball is another strong option for work breaks:

Or perhaps you'd like to cha-cha? A jazz band was setting up to play tunes for the day:

Across from the main Commons building is the Spitfire Grill — a pub with a ski lodge vibe inside:

But we didn't eat at the Spitfire Grill, or the Commons. Instead we went to Building 16, which has the excellent Cafe 16.

Cafe 16 serves pizza, among many other delicious treats, to Microsoft employees:

After eating at Cafe 16, we walked over to another part of the campus.

We spotted some folks enjoying a lunch-time game of soccer. Note that this is a different soccer field than the one we saw earlier.

This weird thing was near the soccer field. It might be a phone charger?

There was also a volleyball court, which seems like a challenging sport to enjoy at work:

After a few minutes where we were lost on the campus, we finally reached our destination. We were in one of the original six buildings at Microsoft!

It's currently getting a makeover to be more modern.

Like any modern, hip office space, it has some free snacks.

The conference rooms have cool illustrations on them.

This is (we think) the Skype team. It's a pretty standard office set up. However, this is atypical at Microsoft. Most of the other buildings, where we couldn't take photos, had offices.

But you've seen typical office setups before — look at this bright red conference room:

Microsoft is attempting an open-but-closed feel with this office. There are massive windows along one wall, but there's also a wall-length shade that can be lowered: