The Spaceship Has Landed: Apple’s New Campus Opens

“It’s a pretty amazing building. It’s a little like a spaceship landed” – Steve Jobs

WIRED has published an in-depth article exclusively detailing Apple’s new headquarters that has now opened in Cupertino, California. Coined as the “One Last Thing” Steve Jobs had envisioned prior to his death in 2011, journalist Steven Levy takes the reader through a step-by-step tour of the new Apple Park campus guided by design spearhead Jonathan Ive and head of facilities Dan Whisenunt. Designed in collaboration with Foster + Partners, the sprawling 75 acres hosts facilities ranging from a 100,000 square foot Wellness Center, a hilltop theater, a 755-foot entrance tunnel (tiled Apple white of course) and immense 4-storey glass doors that open up the Ring’s equally giant café to the elements.

The meticulous journey towards designing the campus is a testament to Jobs’ legacy of creating products that streamline everyday chaos into a thoughtful design. Said Jobs to the Cupertino City Council in 2011: “I think we have a shot at building the best office building in the world.” Located less than a mile from Apple’s original Infinite Loop headquarters, that building is now a reality. Eight years in the making and the Apple spaceship has landed.

There’s not a straight piece of glass on this building – Steve Jobs pitching the Ring’s design to the Cupertino Council in 2011, his last public appearance.

Glass is a unique and prominent feature of the 2.8 million square foot Ring structure, which holds 12,000 employees and features the largest curved glass panels in the world. Working with Seele Group for façade construction, Ive and Foster + Partners worked to create and manufacture the 45-foot tall panels of curved safety glass and finlike canopies that envelop the building.

The doors of the café The Ring is designed to run entirely on sustainable energy sources, from 805,000 square feet of solar arrays to shunning air conditioning in favor of funneling cool and warm air through its offices, becoming a “breathing building.” Additionally, shock absorbers in the building’s structure ensure that it can move 4.5 feet in any direction during an earthquake.

Apple is planting 9,000 drought resistant trees throughout the campus, creating an experience Jobs sought to bring from his long walks in the California countryside. The resulting workplace is expected to nurture the future of Apple by benefitting its workers in every way it can through its architecture. “This was a hundred-year decision,” says Apple CEO Tim Cook. Employees are moving in, now it is up to time to tell what future innovation Job’s final project will raise from its glass walls.

“While it is a technical marvel to make glass at this scale, that’s not the achievement. The achievement is to make a building where so many people can connect and collaborate and walk and talk.” The value is not what went into the building, rather what will come out” – Jonathan Ive, Head of Apple Design

Read the full article from WIRED here.

Drone Video Captures Apple Campus 2 as Employees Begin Move-In

With employees beginning to move into Apple’s Campus 2 this month, the Foster + Partners-designed main building is down to its finishing touches, as shown in this drone video captured by aerial videographer Matthew Roberts. Also nearing completion are the solar-panel-covered parking garage and the F&D facility, with the Steve Jobs Theater expected to follow sometime this summer.

2.8 Million-square-foot Apple Campus to Open in April… And It Looks Incredible

Apple today announced that Apple Park (also referred to as Apple Campus 2) will be ready to occupy beginning in April. Envisioned by Steve Jobs as a “center for creativity and collaboration,” the 175-acre campus will serve as a new home for more than 12,000 employees, who will be moved-in over a six month period.