Apple Park Nearly Completed

I know there are not a lot of Apple fans on this site. I'm a user of both OS X and Windows 7/10 but tend to favor Apple's ecosystem at home. No matter you're affiliation, I hope you can appreciate Apple Park as an amazing piece of architecture and technology. I hope to visit someday just to see it in person. I love it when architects and designers push the limits of what can be done with modern day materials and technology. This campus is the epitome of that philosophy.

(I don't want this thread to divulge into an Apple bashing or Apple vs Microsoft vs Linux debate so please take such comments elsewhere.)

The campus is officially called Apple Park, and the first employees will begin occupying the 175-acre campus in April 2017. The company added that it will take more than six months to move 12,000 employees into the new site, and that some construction will continue over the summer even as employees move in.



Here are some facts and figures:

DESIGN
The ring-shaped building, advertised as "a perfect circle," was not originally planned as such. The inner rim and outer rim on each floor will be left open as walkways. There are 8 buildings, separated by 9 mini-atria. The campus is one mile in circumference, with a diameter of 1,512 feet (461 meters). The one circular building will house all employees. It is four stories above the ground and three stories underground. Apple created life-size mock-ups of all parts of building to iron out any design issues.

The inner part of the circular building will be a 30-acre (12 ha) park, with fruit trees and winding pathways, inspired by fruit orchards of California. A pond is also part of it.

The design hides the roads and parking spots underground. The campus uses only glass for its walls and views of the inner courtyard or to the landscape facing the exterior of the building. The campus is designed with winding paths that traverse the campus, with verdant surroundings, with open seating areas for employees to meet. Around 83,000 sq ft (7,700 m2) of space is for meetings and breakout spaces in the building.

Steve Jobs wanted no seam, gap, or paintbrush stroke visible for a clean fit and finish. He was inspired by the main quad on Stanford University.

All interior wood to be used for furniture was to be harvested from a certain species of maple. Apple is working with construction companies from 19 countries for design and material supply.

A breathing, hollow concrete slab will act as the building's floors, ceilings, and HVAC system. A total of 4,300 such slabs will be used for building. Some of the slabs weigh 60,000 pounds (27,000 kilograms).


CAFE
The campus will have seven cafes, and the largest three-level café is for 3,000 sitting people, it has light-colored stone lining and glass railing with no metal support. It is surrounded by extensive landscaping. The mezzanine space of 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2) can accommodate 600 people and 1,750 seats on terraces outside, with a capacity to serve 15,000 lunches a day, housed by specially designed 500 tables made of solid spesshart white oak, measuring 18 ft (5.5 m) long and 4 ft (1.2 m) wide.

The sports tables and benches resemble those in Apple Stores. The large doors of the main restaurant are 92 ft (28 m) tall, the biggest in the world. The cafe extends to grassy landscape well beyond the glass walls and will be able to dine al fresco in an area Apple’s calling the glade.


AUDITORIUM
To be named as Steve Jobs Theater after the co-founder of Apple, located atop a hill on the campus the underground, 1000 seat auditorium for Apple product launches and press meets is also being built. A large cylinder shaped lobby with stairs down to the auditorium. The theater, as referred by Apple, will have 350 parking spots on North Tantau and a pedestrian path leading to the main campus located Northwest of the theater. This will provide Apple with more control over product releases and unveiling.

The unique and outstanding theater will be all cylindrical glass walls, column-free and roofed with carbon fiber. This helps in an unhindered, 360-degree view of the verdant campus. The carbon fiber roof, one of the strongest and lightest material known to man, will be entirely supported by the glass walls. The 80-short-ton (73-metric-ton) carbon fiber roof, made of 44 identical panels was supplied by a Dubai-based company, Premier Composite Technologies. Each panel is 70 ft (21 m) long and 11 ft (3.4 m) wide and locks in the middle with the other panels.


WELLNESS CENTER
A 100,000 square feet wellness/fitness center is located in the northwest of the campus. It can serve up to 20,000 employees around Cupertino. Apart from gym equipment, the fitness center will feature other amenities like changing rooms, showers, laundry services, and rooms for group sessions.


R&D FACILITY
Two large buildings 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) on the southern edge of the campus are being built, isolated from prying eyes. The top floor will house the R&D department comprising industrial design and human interface teams headed by design chief, Jonathan Ive.

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TRANSIT CENTER
Employees traveling to Apple by bus will board and depart from the subterranean bus station, which leads to the main campus via two white staircases. The bus fleet will increase by 20%.

PARKING
Parking is built both underground and in two large parking structures accommodating approximately 14,200 employees. Cupertino regulations require an estimated 11,000 parking spaces.

When Apple Park opens, 700 new electric vehicle charging ports will be added on-site.

There will be 2,000 parking spaces in the subterranean parking garage. The parking will be managed by sensors and apps, which will manage the traffic and parking spaces.

There will also be 2,000 bicycle parking spaces.

There will be 1,000 bikes on the campus for employees to get around, with miles of cycling and jogging trails all over the 175-acre (71 ha) campus.


LANDSCAPING

Currently, only 20% of the campus is green space; when Apple is done with construction, it will consist of 80% green space.[28] The big courtyard in the middle of the main building will be verdant with apricot, olive, and apple orchards and a herb garden near the cafe. The plants selected for the campus landscape are drought tolerant. Recycled water will be used to water the campus.

Apple hired a leading arborist, Dave Muffly, from Stanford University to cultivate California's natural environment around the campus. There will be 9,000 trees on the campus, of 309 varieties of indigenous species.[2][7] The trees that will be planted are Oak savanna, Oak wood, and fruit trees including apricot, apple, plum, cherry and persimmon. An additional 15 acres (6 ha) are planned to be used for a native California grassland.[29] Of the 4,506 trees on former campus, 1,000 will be replanted on the new campus. Their arborist has been growing more than 4,600 trees in various nurseries for their eventual transplant to the campus. It will include both young and mature trees, and native and drought tolerant plants that will thrive in Santa Clara County with minimal water consumption.

The trees on the perimeter will be retained and more will be moved to the perimeter, to act as a natural fence.

The inner courtyard is 30 acres (12 ha), and covered in fruit trees with a pond.


POWER
The site will be powered entirely from renewable energy, and will be one of the most energy efficient buildings in the world. The solar panels installed on the roof of the campus can generate 17 megawatts of power, sufficient to power 75% during peak daytime. The other 4 megawatts will be generated onsite using Bloom Energy Server fuel cells, which are powered by biofuel or natural gas. The air will flow freely between the inside and outside of the building, providing natural ventilation and obviating the need for HVAC systems during nine months of the year.

(I don't want this thread to divulge into an Apple bashing or Apple vs Microsoft vs Linux debate so please take such comments elsewhere.)

I can't help myself.

Apple park is nothing more than a monument to everything wrong with humanity.

What are they trying to do offset their carbon foot print from all their products made in a place that's the worlds largest polluter. China.

Apple Park amounts to nothing more than trying to buy a soul.

originally posted by: neo96

(I don't want this thread to divulge into an Apple bashing or Apple vs Microsoft vs Linux debate so please take such comments elsewhere.)

I can't help myself.

Apple park is nothing more than a monument to everything wrong with humanity.

What are they trying to do offset their carbon foot print from all their products made in a place that's the worlds largest polluter. China.

Apple Park amounts to nothing more than trying to buy a soul.

Ok Neo. I'll let you have your little rant because I like you.

But the campus is pretty, right?

Apple's operations in China are now 'carbon neutral'

a reply to: jtrenthacker

Yeah It's a engineering marvel.

The only thing missing is the towers like Star Labs has.

a reply to: jtrenthacker

I swear by Apples tablets. I will never buy a cheapo again.
We went through Samsungs and all sorts of other walmart brand tablets ( 3 kids ages 8,10 and 12)
So these things would get used daily.
I bought an Ipad for myself and was so impressed with how reliable its been over the past 3 years, that all my kids now have Ipads.
The upfront cost is more than a generic $100 tablet, but the ipad pays for itself over time.

originally posted by: Macenroe82
a reply to: jtrenthacker

I swear by Apples tablets. I will never buy a cheapo again.
We went through Samsungs and all sorts of other walmart brand tablets ( 3 kids ages 8,10 and 12)
So these things would get used daily.
I bought an Ipad for myself and was so impressed with how reliable its been over the past 3 years, that all my kids now have Ipads.
The upfront cost is more than a generic $100 tablet, but the ipad pays for itself over time.

Like I said, don't want this thread to turn into pro or anti Apple products but I can back up your claims. Grandma bought our kids (now 13, 10, & 7) iPad minis 3 years ago for Christmas. I cringed at the idea. Figured they'd be toast within a year. All three are still going strong with no problems. They use protective cases of course, but my kids have taken them everywhere have spilled food and beverages on them and dropped hundreds of times. Still work as new minus a few minor scratches on screen which aren't even noticeable when turned on.

Apple cares about the USA? This is all about some execs having a fancy place to hang out.

a reply to: jtrenthacker

viewing that feels just like watching an episode of mtv's "cribs"
it is a demonstration of wealth, thats all.

Apple keeps it's money away from the US to avoid taxes.

The local county should charge $500K a day for Apple people to drive on the roads leading up to the building.

Before they spend another dollar on that Apple Park, how about they get the spell checking on my iPhone to work correctly.

Yes apples good, yum i enjoy. More people need to indulge in fruits. Good thred you be very fruitful yes.

originally posted by: NobodiesNormal
a reply to: jtrenthacker

viewing that feels just like watching an episode of mtv's "cribs"
it is a demonstration of wealth, thats all.

Yes, it costs a lot of money to push the boundaries of engineering and architecture. What would you suggest? Would you rather have a world without beautiful architecture? You know, it would be a lot cheaper to just build concrete cubes for everything.

I created this thread to discuss Apple Park as an example of great engineering and design. Most of the comments are about the "evil" Apple as a corporation. I agree, they need to pay more taxes. I agree, they need to bring manufacturing to the U.S. However, it's not like they're the only one. All large tech companies operate in this fashion.

Does anyone appreciate beautiful things?

The ultra-modern workplace features three restaurants, several fitness centers, a 120,000-square-foot corporate auditorium, a two-story yoga room, on-site medical and dental services, and over 100 acres of landscaped green space, including the giant and gorgeous courtyard in the center of the doughnut-shaped building.

But oops, they forgot to build a daycare.

sfist.com - Apple's Campus Has Everything - Oh, Except Daycare.

Maybe they can tack one on the current building. Better yet, you can have the big "mothership" campus and a small "scout ship" off to the side.

It is a very nice campus! But then again, I do not have rug rats.

Oh! And one more thing.

In writing about the headquarters, Wired revealed that Apple has patented a round pizza box that is designed to keep pizzas from the employee cafeteria fresh, hot, and crisp. The boxes are made from recycled materials like molded fiber and have air channels to trap the heat inside and prevent soggy crust.

Source: Fortune.com

As if Apple needs more money!

But oops, they forgot to build a daycare.

sfist.com - Apple's Campus Has Everything - Oh, Except Daycare.

Maybe they can tack one on the current building. Better yet, you can have the big "mothership" campus and a small "scout ship" off to the side.

It is a very nice campus! But then again, I do not have rug rats.


Yeah, thought that was odd. Maybe it's a tribute to Jobs who abandoned his own daughter?

a reply to: jtrenthacker

Well....at least they made it easy to target and hit a bullseye from space!

Add a red dome and voila....its "Easy Button Park"