With a few other people, I was invited to a quick tour of AMD's campus here at Austin, which I will share with you as bonus content in this article, as promised.
First of all, I cannot show you the campus entrance because I forgot to take a picture of it, though I can tell you what it looked like. In front of us, when we crossed the gate entrance, there was a large block on which the green AMD logo was figuring. There were plants, flowers, bushes and trees around it and on the side of the path. You could see two different buildings from that entrance I think. The main event was taking place in one of them.
Later on, we began our little campus tour. We walked in between these two buildings. The path was mostly in the shadow of the buildings. There were one again many plants, and people were sitting at many different places, talking together. I then saw a small information panel on a wall. It was about the vegetation in the area.
"Site Design: The Lone Star Campus design team was tasked with a very important goal; obtain the required square footage with the lightest footprint possible. An extensive on-site ecological study conducted by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center enabled the design team to cluster construction to avoid most sensitive areas based on the land's native soil, plants, and habitats. In fact, the campus footprint is 20% less than zoning rules allow. Care was also taken to minimize the amount of fill required to adapt the buildings to site contours in order to maintain the natural ability of the land to filter and capture runoff. For areas of the site that had to be disturbed for construction, AMD volunteers and contractors salvaged over 20,000 plants, which were used for the gardens and restoration efforts on the site."
Continuing our tour, we went across stair ramps that were ideal for sliding. Here is Davin Coldewey from Crunchgear.com giving it a try.
When we left that path between the two buildings, we got a magnificient sight on a big part of the campus. I took a panoramic shot of it:
Finally, when we came back, we had a peek inside some of the buildings. Here is the employee's cafeteria. Beside me was where they could buy some food.
Still in the 'green' spirit of things, the "EXIT" signs do not light up red, but instead they use a fluorescent green paint. There is no need for an energy-consuming light bulb.
So this is where our quick campus tour ends. I hope you guys appreciated this bonus content!
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