IBM Building 025 in San Jose, California

On March 8, 2008, a fire consumed IBM Building 025. Now, in a parking lot in south San José, between a Lowe’s and an AutoZone, a tiny monument memorializes what was once Silicon Valley’s pioneering tech campus. Built in 1957, the campus was the design of the architect John S. Bolles. Under the mandate of IBM’s president, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., he was instructed to blend “architecture, landscape and art into an employee-friendly environment,” notes an explanatory display sign. If that sounds familiar, it should: many a Silicon Valley tech campus uses…

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