Flyover - Apple Park
Apple Park, the now official name of Apple’s new 175-acre Cupertino, CA, campus will begin welcoming employees next month. The move-in of 12,000 workers will take six months, while building and landscaping continues through the summer. Also announced is that the 1,000 seat hilltop Steve Jobs Theater will be the future site of Apple’s much anticipated product launches. The auditorium entrance is a 20-foot-tall glass cylinder, 165 feet in diameter, supporting a metallic carbon-fiber roof (2nd photo).
But, the architectural centerpiece of the project is, of course, the “spaceship”, or ring-shaped 2.8 million square-foot main building, which features the world’s largest panels of curved glass (top photo). Landscaping inside the circle will include walking and running paths for employees, an orchard, meadow, and a pond.
“Steve's vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment. We’ve achieved one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world and the campus will run entirely on renewable energy.”
The spaceship’s rooftop solar, producing 17 megawatts, will make Apple Park one of the largest on-site solar energy installations in the world; and the world’s largest naturally ventilated building. Projections estimate no need for heating or air conditioning for nine months of the year.
As per reporting in Reuters, Jobs' perfectionism and attention to detail also lives on in the construction of the building. Like the iPhone, parts we cannot even see matter; both sides of the polished concrete ceiling panels must be equally smooth. Doorway thresholds were to be perfectly flat, exit and safety signage sleek and minimalist – not something the County Fire Department usually has to attend 15 meetings about.
And you don’t have to work there to get a closer look. The design will also include the Apple Park Visitor Center, with an Apple Store and cafe open to the public.
“Steve invested so much of his energy creating and supporting vital, creative environments. We have approached the design, engineering, and making of our new campus with the same enthusiasm and design principles that characterize our products,” said Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer. “Connecting extraordinarily advanced buildings with rolling parkland, creates a wonderfully open environment for people to create, collaborate, and work together.”