WPR’s own Cristina Akimoff was honored to support Mozillians at the Mobile World Congress last month in Barcelona.

Luckily her experience managing the busy San Francisco site prepared her for the crowds and energy of the conference.

Manning booth by day, and events by night, Cristina, as well as most who attended, did not get much sleep. But she did witness the passion, excitement and interest in all things Mozilla.

Cristina talked to hundreds, if not thousands of people while at the MWC and was very impressed by the turnout. She hopes to one day manage events of this magnitude for Mozilla!

Mozilla is excited to announce our newest office opening in Paris!

By doing so, we continue our mission of keeping the Web open and accessible to all by investing in our people, places, and leading products. All our Mozilla spaces are designed for use by our worldwide Mozilla Community (both paid staff and community volunteers) to hack, code, design, research, create, engage and contribute to the Mozilla mission.

Our new Mozilla Paris space combines working areas for up to 50 people and a vibrant community space designed to host up to 150 people for our Mozilla community events, meetups, and work weeks.   We’ve incorporated the same leading technologies, amenities and designs as our other unique Mozilla Spaces around the world, all with a unique Paris feel.  After all, it is Paris!

Historic Building

We found a historic building that first and foremost met our space needs and vision and also needed a unique tenant to care-take, preserve, and protect the original architecture.   In fact, the building’s architectural details have remained untouched in this heritage building and Mozilla is proud to join the ranks of distinguished inhabitants leading back to Marie Antoinette herself.

Mozilla’s occupation of this space carries with it certain custodial preservation responsibilities which, in part, is how we were able to secure this heritage space at a very affordable market price versus other options in the area.

Mozilla Spaces Goals

Our overarching goals for all our Mozilla Spaces remain the same:

• Increase participation by providing opportunities for interaction, learning and collaboration with Mozilla;

• Attract, recruit, and retain paid staff and volunteers in region by extending Mozilla experience;

• Increase Mozilla mind share and influence within local communities.

Paris Mozillians will finally be united under one (18th century!) roof beginning in April.  It’s a stunning and unique addition to our collection of MozSpaces around the Globe. (note: we didn’t need to paint or do anything to the gold leaf walls – that’s how the space came!).

We hope you find a chance to visit and help us create, collaborate, and contribute to the Mozilla mission……and, of course, enjoy everything Paris!

More pictures!

Boxes have arrived, and the team is busy packing up our two former temporary offices in preparation for the move. Our space planning and support teams are in Paris this week as we set up and facilitate the move between the three sites. Working diligently this week and through the weekend, the WPR team (led by Rob Middleton, Lori Jashinsky, Lisa Gray, and Shannon Clayton), Desktop team (Tim F, Guillermo, and newest member Guillaume C), and IT teams (Zandr, Ravi P) will ready the new site for employees on Tuesday, April 2.

Work Area

Community – Kitchen Area

Key dates for Paris Office:

• Move-in begins Friday, March 29th

• 1st Day in Office – Tue, April 2nd;  Final construction details, polishing, and office bug fixing happening throughout remainder of April

• Grand opening public event celebration – June 10th

Lots of Questions:

As a reminder, our office openings typically generate lots of questions, press and blogger attention.  If you are contacted by anyone interested in learning more about our new Paris office and plans for Mozilla in France, please forward inquiries to press@mozilla.com, per the usual media inquiry process.  We will be inviting local media, our community, and others to our scheduled June 10th grand opening soon.

We know many of you already have questions surrounding the opening and operating of this space.  A regular rolling set of communications has already begun with all our Paris Mozillians to help them plan, pack, and move in next week.   We’ll also be communicating to our partners, vendors, press, and several others shortly.

We’ll also be posting lots of updated Paris Office information to answer most every other internal “how to” question in the next few days.

Thank You’s!

More huge thank you’s to our amazing Mozilla teams responsible for making these Mozilla Spaces possible including our extensive Mozilla Spaces team (Mozilla WPR, Rosen Realty Group, CRE Group, ISG, and several other external partners), Mozilla Desktop team, Mozilla’s IT and Networking teams, and of course our current Mozilla Paris community of employee and contributors.

Enjoy! and Have Fun!

Amusez-vous et profitez-en!

The Entire Mozilla Spaces Team!

Map:  http://goo.gl/maps/fFx8P

You’ve heard by now. Our Mountain View Headquarters are moving to a bigger, better space early in 2014. WPR is already planning this momentous move, and is making sure you’re in the loop along the way.

The MV2014 project kicked off this month with a meeting on 3/12 in MV & on Air Mozilla  where employees learned about our plans for the new Mountain View site at 331 E Evelyn St in Mountain View. Employee feedback is helping us improve and enhance our future working environments in Mountain View and elsewhere.  The goal of these efforts is to ensure full transparency and include Mozillians in the planning and design process.  WPR is focused on improving your comfort and productivity in our workspaces.  These development efforts are designed to culminate in a smooth move process and a great transition to our new home, MV2014!

Upcoming steps in the design process include:

1)     DISCOVERY

2)     ASSESSMENT

3)     STRATEGY

4)     PLANNING & DESIGN

5)     PROTOTYPE & TESTING

6)     IMPLEMENTATION

Through this Engagement process we’re sharing and gathering information in a variety of ways:

Individual online surveys have been sent to our MV & SF offices to gather specific feedback on work styles and preferences and focus groups were held earlier in March to learn about group adjacency and identity needs between our teams at Mozilla.  We held an open house event on March 21^st, giving Mountain View employees another chance to share their ideas and concerns. You can follow  along for updates for at MV Evelyn Ave Design Development.

Project Timeline:

• March and April:  Space Planning and Designing (Idea gathering, several planning versions, discussions)
• May: Develop Construction Documentation (full details down to each square foot of this new 60,000 sq ft space)
• June: 30 day RFP process for hiring a general contractor
• July: Sub-contractor bidding on construction
• August 1: Demolition and construction begins
• Feb 1, 2014: Move In!

Please join us for our next MV2014 Brownbag on 3/27 in MV and on Air Mozilla; we encourage you to join in the discussion.

Please send any questions, comments and input about the move, the design, or the engagement process to mv2014@mozilla.com.

Plan it.  Execute it.  Manage it.   WPR continued our Mozilla Spaces quest in 2012.   We opened new doors, signed new office space leases, organized events, and implemented new programs in our efforts to always stay one step ahead of our worldwide activities.

We began our Mozilla Spaces strategy in Jan, 2011 at a time when our only true “Mozilla Space” was downtown Mountain View, California which seemed inconsistent with our worldwide community, user base, and overall growth strategy.  In late 2010 and early 2011, we weren’t effectively promoting worldwide community collaboration, productivity, and events.  We knew we could do better.  We started.

We brought in a world class team of experts and opened San Francisco and Toronto in the summer of 2011 and upgraded New Zealand (Auckland) in Q3 2011.

By early 2012, we were hitting our stride and opened our doors in 4 new spaces including London and Taiwan in Q1, Vancouver and SF 3rd Floor in Q2, and added temporary workspaces for Portland, Paris, and Berlin as we continued to plan those futures.  Speaking of planning, each new space is planned with extensive analysis using key requirements for current and future talent, community strength, leadership, projected growth needs, and of course overall financial guidelines.

As we closed out 2012, we were operating 8 true Mozilla spaces on 4 different continents.  Looking forward into 2013, we are excitedly planning for grand openings in

• Paris (March/April)
• SF Floors 1 and 2 in May/June (ex-Gordon Biersch space)
• Portland (summer)
• Berlin (fall)
• Expanding our Taipei, Taiwan for a 3rd time with it’s focus on FFOS growth.

Moving and shaking in the Bay Area in 2012 and 2013

What started as a modest 7th floor San Francisco Moz Space (+ a cool deck) quickly transitioned to the need for more space.  We added the 3rd Floor in 2012 and signed a coveted and competitive bidding for Floors 1 and 2 (the ex-Gordon Biersch restaurant space).

Meanwhile, in Mountain View, we decided to consolidate our 4th floor back to floors 2 and 3 as we contemplated the final year of our current 5 yr lease.    The ensuing moving and shaking was a bit disruptive but in true California style we shook it off, stayed strong, and carried on.

We are currently actively planning version 2.0 of Mountain View with a launch date of Q1 2014.  We’ll be very excited to share these plans with everyone very shortly.

Organizing Mozilla Events: 

In 2012, your beloved WPR dept. coordinated hundreds of events including…

• Halloween Cantinas
• Fourth of July Fireworks
• Over 50 Workweeks
• Turkey Feasts
• Cocktail hours
• PR Soirees
• Holiday Buffets
• Birthday parties
• Meetups
• Networking events
• Hackathons
• and more!

And We Implemented New Support Programs

• Service Now allows you to easily submit WPR requests.
• Car Services are available to travelers in London and Vancouver.
• Centerstone software allows us to efficiently manage moves, spaces and seating plans.
• San Francisco’s pilot bike program allows Mozillians to cruise the Embarcadero in style.
• Security Guidelines and procedures give us a safer workplace.
• Travel tips and tools give us easier travel along our way.

Thanks to everyone for your input, support and patience as we learned and grew together in 2012. We look forward to working with you and continuing to build strong Mozilla Spaces Foundations in the 2013!

Happy New Year! We hope that you are all back and refreshed after the holidays. Here are some photos of Mozillians celebrating in our offices around the world.

London’s office glided into the holidays on ice skates.

Vancouver’s office celebrated in style with a holiday feast.

Paris employees and contributors enjoyed Firefox hats and fine foods while spreading their holiday cheer.

Mountain View employees ate, drank and were merry.

Toronto Mozillians spread their goodwill to all playing Cards Against Humanity.

San Francisco celebrates in their homemade B2G holiday photo booth.

The San Francisco office continues to grow as we take over the bottom two floors of the historic Hill Bros. Coffee building on the iconic Embarcadero. The San Francisco office has doubled its capacity since opening its doors just a year and a half ago, and now surpasses Mountain View in headcount!

What once housed the well-loved Gordon Biersch Brewery will now be home to a splendid Mozillian community space and “innovation areas” for our more collaborative teams. The newest San Francisco floors will also make use of a large patio overlooking the Embarcadero with enviable views of the Bay Bridge.

Stay tuned in 2013 as Mozilla SFO becomes a favorite Mozillian destination!