Architecture

Apple's spaceship campus revealed

Apple's spaceship campus revealed
The sun rises over Apple's new campus
The sun rises over Apple's new campus
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The proposed construction
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The proposed construction
The greening of the site
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The greening of the site
An aerial image showing the central park space
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An aerial image showing the central park space
Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
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Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
The building's functional areas
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The building's functional areas
Two vast floors of underground parking
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Two vast floors of underground parking
part of Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
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part of Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
The vast cafeteria (3000 capacity)
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The vast cafeteria (3000 capacity)
Picnic time on Apple's campus
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Picnic time on Apple's campus
Jogging to work
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Jogging to work
A country walk on Apple's campus
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A country walk on Apple's campus
Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
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Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
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Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
Part of Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
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Part of Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
The Auditorium plan view
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The Auditorium plan view
The Auditorium section view
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The Auditorium section view
The sun rises over Apple's new campus
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The sun rises over Apple's new campus
Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
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Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
View gallery - 18 images

With the success that Apple has achieved over the past decade, it's perhaps no surprise that it has outgrown its original "Infinite Loop" campus and is in need of a new flagship headquarters to bring the teams together under one roof. Since Steve Jobs will undoubtedly have been the driving force behind the building's conceptual design and hey, it's Apple, the architecture for the new campus is unlike anything else ever built. Indeed, Apple saw fit to engage London-based über-architect Sir Norman Foster and his team, a company known for its unashamedly modern, hi-tech and unique approaches to large buildings such as the Stanstead and Hong Kong airports, the American Air Museum, the Berlin Reichstag, the Dallas Opera House, The Smithsonian and part of the World Trade Center re-development. The statistics of the proposed building are staggering.

The diameter of the ring is 1,615 feet (492.25 meters), which makes it wider than the Pentagon. The circumference will be nearly a mile (1.6 km) and the planned office floor space is 2.8 million square feet (260,128.5 sq m) including a 300,000 square foot (27,870.9 sq m) research facility. That's enough space for 12-13,000 workers - in comparison, Infinite Loop houses only 3,500 engineers at present. There will also be space for their cars underneath the ring and in an additional low-rise structure, though Apple already runs 20 bio-fuel buses for its employees and intends to extend the initiative.

A separate 1,000-seater underground auditorium (for product announcements to the media, undoubtedly), fitness center and natural gas-burning power generation plant complete the plan. The campus will be self-sufficient for power, with the national grid acting only as a back-up. Apple, and Steve Jobs in particular, was stung by criticism of its green credentials from environmental groups some years ago, so you can be sure that a mix of state-of-the-art green technologies will be employed to control the building's environment ... something that Foster + Partners and the building engineers Arup reportedly have long experience in.

Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus
Apple's planned new 1,615 foot-wide campus

The 150-acre (60.7 hectare) site was mostly purchased from Hewlett Packard (Jobs' very first employer) and Apple intends to make almost 80 percent of the site into green landscape, with an extra 2,300 trees. No structure is over four stories high, and the use of glass and the extensive planting means the building should blend well into its surroundings, considering the size.

It should be stressed that at this time this is a planning application only. Steve Jobs, however, commended the plan to the Cupertino City Council in person, describing it as a "landed spacecraft" and "a shot at creating the best office building in the world." Later, Cupertino's Mayor Gilbert Wong remarked, "there is no chance we are saying no!" Apple is hoping to move on to the new campus in 2015.

View gallery - 18 images
19 comments
19 comments
livin_the_dream
Where do I send my CV? Suppose I\'ve got 4 years to get moved over
I am a little surprised they didn\'t make an apple shape? I wonder if he install car charging points as well?
I can\'t quite make out the rocket boosters.
Oztechi
This building can\'t be that green because of the amount of glass it uses which is considered to be one of the least \'green\' building materials available.
I hope Steve Jobs enjoys his glass donut. Wouldn\'t it have made more sense to build the building in the shape of the Apple logo?
Also, I\'m pretty sure it will get build because Mr Jobs said he would simply relocate to another site and/or State if the council said no and take his workers with him.
Renārs Grebežs
Oztechi, modern building use polycarbonate and the like.. Great looking building by the way))
Facebook User
I take it inside the ring is where the night time ceremonies and incantations take place, away from the prying eyes of non-members of the apple \'family\'?
Allstar
Pretty neat building way to go Apple!!
YetAnotherBob
that\'s not a spaceship. The Romans and Greeks were building houses much like this over 2,000 years ago. It\'s just a villa. (a building built around a garden, and completely enclosing the garden.)
Like most of what Apple does, it is something that has already been done, with a couple of minor changes and a lot of hype to make the easily fooled believe it is new and innovative.
Griffin
Crop circle?
Vic Vicarious
Why not an Apple shaped building? Simply because when Apple goes down and under, who wants to buy and Apple shaped building. I guess the walls are made of iPads and the doors are huge Mac screens. And when Patent infringement police will come for a visit they will be given the run around round and round. It\'s also a safe shape to protect against a possible attack by 800.000 Chinese employees deciding to visit USA to meet the Boss and apply for a raise and better work environment or will it be a Apple Factory Robot attack? Mr. Foster.. I expected something way more innovating. Lucky the trees will hide the Circus Arena you sold to Apple
Tony Medlin
I just want to know where they found the Zero point module to power it.
Dave Andrews
Looks like Jobs is trying to make his own little \"Mini-Pentagon.\"
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