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Amazon’s upcoming new second corporate headquarters might be the biggest story surrounding Amazon’s expansion plans right now, but HQ2 isn’t the only exciting new building project at Amazon. The nation’s top online retailer on Tuesday unveiled “Spheres,” the newest addition to Amazon’s massive headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Spheres obviously gets its name from the exterior shape of the three structures, but the shapes is just the beginning. Inside Amazon’s Spheres lies a vast tropical forest that houses lounge areas, “treehouse” meeting rooms, work spaces, areas where Amazon employees can relax and eat meals, and extensive paths that weave through the foliage on the ground and even up in the air.
Amazon’s Spheres are the latest addition in the company’s $4 billion urban campus in downtown Seattle. They house plants taken from greenhouses around the world, and they exist alongside all of the workspaces and other areas within the structures. There’s much more than just plant life to enjoy, however. Amazon’s Spheres are also home to streams and even waterfalls.
The Spheres consist of three large glass domes, the biggest of which is 90 feet tall and 130 feet wide. The glass domes themselves consist of 2,643 individual glass panels, and the structures house a whopping 40,000 different plants that span more than 400 species.
Amazon says the meeting spaces inside the Spheres have already been booked through the end of April by Amazon employees, so the new Spheres are clearly popular among Amazon’s staff. The rest of us will likely never get to enjoy Amazon’s new indoor tropical forest, so the photo tour below is the closest we’ll come to experiencing this stunning new space at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock A worker walks her dog past the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle on the day of the grand opening of the geodesic domes, which will primarily serve as a working and gathering space for Amazon.com employees.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock With the Space Needle in the background, pedestrians walk past the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle on the day of the grand opening of the geodesic domes, which will primarily serve as a working and gathering space for Amazon.com employees.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Guests listen as Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com, speaks during the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Pedestrians walk past the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle on the day of the grand opening of the geodesic domes, which will primarily serve as a working and gathering space for Amazon.com employees, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Alex Crook, a photographer with Seattle Magazine, photographs the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle on the day of their grand opening, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com, speaks during the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com, takes a walking tour of the Amazon Spheres, three plant-filed geodesic domes that serve as a work- and gathering place for Amazon employees, following a grand opening ceremony, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Jeff Bezos, center, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com, laughs as he talks with Ron Gagliardo, right, the lead horticulturist of the Amazon Spheres, following the grand opening ceremony for the plant-filled geodesic domes built for Amazon.com employees, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Guests sit in an area of the Amazon Spheres known as “the nest,” on the day of the Spheres’ grand opening, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Gathering spaces and a plant-filled wall are shown before a grand opening ceremony for the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle. The plant-filled geodesic domes will serve as a work- and gathering space for Amazon.com employees.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Jeff Bezos, third from left, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com, takes a walking tour of the Amazon Spheres, three plant-filed geodesic domes that serve as a work- and gathering place for Amazon employees, following a grand opening ceremony, in Seattle.
Image source: Ted S. Warren/AP/REX/Shutterstock Gathering spaces and a plant-filled wall are shown before a grand opening ceremony for the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle. The plant-filled geodesic domes will serve as a work- and gathering space for Amazon.com employees.
Article updated to clarify that Amazon’s urban campus cost $4 billion to build. An earlier version incorrectly stated that the Spheres feature alone cost $4 billion.
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