
A look inside Amazon’s Spheres as they get set to open - wallflower
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/take-a-look-inside-amazons-spheres-as-they-get-set-for-next-weeks-opening/
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moonka
Some other pictures are here:
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-01-26/inside-
am...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-01-26/inside-amazon-s-
giant-spheres-where-workers-chill-in-a-mini-rainforest)

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atomical
From reading answers on Quora I came to the conclusion that Amazon employees
aren't given expensive perks (i.e. computers and work place furniture). Are
things changing at Amazon?

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colmmacc
10 year Amazonian here. I think we have one of the most expensive perks of
all: an active, expansive, downtown campus. That's not cheap, those towers
cost billions, and there's a reason many big technology competitors are in
more suburban locations (Redmond, Mountain View, Kirkland, etc ...). But it
really is something to be able to get to and from work relatively quickly via
public transport, to be in the middle of a cool city with great restaurants
and food trucks, and to be so easily able to socialize with colleagues and
friends.

But it's true that we don't have free cafeterias, free sodas, gyms (though we
do have free on-campus workouts and yoga classes) and so on. We do have some
other unusual perks though: our mailrooms get the "Amazon" shipping rates from
USPS/DHL/FedEx, and since Amazon is one of their biggest customers, it's
really really cheap to ship personal packages. We have a dog park with awesome
puppies that's 17 stories up, with a crazy view of the Puget Sound and
Downtown Seattle.

There's lots of less tangible things like that, but in general, people aren't
here for the perks.

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atomical
I have never thought of location and a building as a perk. It is easy for even
a moderately funded company to have an office in the downtown of any major
city.

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discoursism
A perk is not a perk because of the ease of providing it or its cost. It's a
perk because it's a benefit not part of core compensation. And it is true,
none of the other tech giants have downtown HQs (although plenty of Google
satellite offices are in urban centers, at least).

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atomical
There is a formal definition, but not everyone will agree building and
location are perks.

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mc32
They're like tree houses for office workers --neat. Remind me a bit of the
tropical Sphere inside the California Academy of Sciences.

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trhway
Looks like a mall for me. From hanging there as teenagers to working there...
That and similar Google plans show what is coming next after open floor - a
multilevel panopticon.

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throwawayjava
a multilevel _treehouse_ panopticon!

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amelius
> The Spheres are kept at 72 degrees and 60 percent humidity during the day,
> and 55 degrees with 85 percent humidity at night.

Working late is going to be an adventure.

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weisser
This is fascinating. It's almost a forcing function to prevent overwork and
burnout.

Imagine if the lights were on and it was 72 degrees, 60% humidity, 24/7 — the
plants wouldn't thrive.

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o_____________o
This is awesome and will be a boon for the workers' health. I wonder how
they'll deal with fungi and other plant pathogens? Fungicides? I've installed
small living walls and have had issues with that.

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webwielder2
Is that headline supposed to intentionally sound like the setup to a sci-fi
horror movie?

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dEnigma
It really sounds ominous if, like me, you've never heard about "Amazon's
Spheres". Brings to mind stories of alien objects appearing at several key
locations on Earth, surrounded by the military and scientists, when suddenly
they show signs of activity.

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lwhi
I hadn't heard about them, and it read like a sci-fi thought experiment
describing the kind of mega-corporate excess that might come along in the
future.

I guess that future is now.

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pkaye
Looks nice but a stark contrast from what their warehouse workers are
afforded.

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discoursism
Of course. What do you expect?

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pkaye
I guess my work experience over the last 30 years has been different. None of
the companies had this extravagant facilities but those that had substantial
operations or manufacturing capabilities were fairly uniform in the offering
of facilities among the white collar and blue collar employees. Both had the
same snack rooms with free food and far as I could tell nearly all had their
own cubicles.

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gwern
The fig tree in the diagram is enormous. Is it really _that_ big? And what
will they do with all the figs? (Pick your own, perhaps, from whatever the
cafeterias can't sell.)

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stevenwoo
There's a fig tree in Balboa Park in San Diego that dwarfs the one in the
diagram, and that's only the third biggest in California. But I imagine it's
hard to convince people to sell trees that big / transport them into buildings
much larger than the one in the diagram.

[https://www.balboapark.org/attractions/moreton-bay-fig-
tree](https://www.balboapark.org/attractions/moreton-bay-fig-tree)

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underwater
Moreton Bay Figs are amazing. They’re everywhere in Brisbane, AU and there is
even a children’s playground that weaves through a huge one.

[https://encrypted-
tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnXjXB...](https://encrypted-
tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnXjXBacp7-fNfsnHIrEXnGoqv28OaxJYvJXKwEN5heteL1Cgb1AkUOxz_)

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itronitron
it would be cool if big tech companies invested in creating public spaces
rather than biospheres for insulating their employees from the world

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threatofrain
It would be cool if voters were willing to pay for public spaces, real
_public_ spaces, rather than waiting on the charity of companies through moral
expectation, charity which could be retracted at any time, or diverted for any
whim.

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goldenkey
Taxpayers dont want additional burdens. Parks are already free and accessible.
These treehouses are nothing more than a hollow gesture considering Amazon's
toxic middle-managers and poor processes like performance reviews based on the
cult-like "leadership principles."

(Note: I worked at Amazon as a front end / full stack dev around the SLU
Seattle campus recently and left _voluntarily_ due to the environment.)

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jasonpeacock
Parks are not free - they're supported by taxpayers.

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txsh
Biodomes that aren’t called biodomes because of Pauly Shore.

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Sir_Substance
nag-free link for the lazy:
[https://archive.fo/ftB17](https://archive.fo/ftB17)

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JauntTrooper
Kind of has a Blue Origin feel to it.

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bcoughlan
The foliage is a nice reminder of what offices are: zoos for humans.

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paxy
Do people pay to come watch you work?

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pavel_lishin
Maybe bcoughlan is a streaming video performer?

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_cave_johnson
The spheres are an ok corporate showpiece but at the end of the day they are
just that: a showpiece. They don't integrate well with the neighborhood or
contribute much to the broader public environment—and Amazon must be just
_thrilled_ that there is literally a gentlemen's club across the street from
them—nor do the spheres aesthetically make up for all warehouse style offices
Amazon has put up all over South Lake Union.

All the coverage celebrating this private public space also concerns me

