Tomas Chlebek Today, Apple officially unveiled Apple Park, a new headquarters that until now has been nicknamed the spaceship.
The history of Apple Park began back in 2006, when Steve Jobs announced to the Cupertino city council that Apple had purchased land to build its new headquarters, then known as "Apple Campus 2". In 2011, he presented a proposed project for a new residence to the Cupertino City Council, which later turned out to be his last public speech before his death.
Jobs chose Norman Foster and his firm Foster + Partners as the chief architect. The construction of Apple Park began in November 2013 and the original completion date was the end of 2016, but it was extended to the second half of 2017.
Along with the official name of the new campus, Apple has now also announced that employees will begin moving into it in April this year, with the move of more than twelve thousand people taking more than six months. Completion of construction work and improvements to the terrain and landscape will run parallel to this process throughout the summer.
Apple Park includes a total of six main buildings – in addition to the monumental circular office building with a capacity of fourteen thousand people, there are above-ground and underground parking, a fitness center, two research and development buildings and a thousand-seat auditorium serving primarily to introduce products. In the context of the auditorium, the press release mentions Steve Jobs' upcoming birthday on Friday and announces that the auditorium will be known as the "Steve Jobs Theater" (pictured above) in honor of the Apple founder. The campus also includes a visitor center with a cafe, a view of the rest of the campus, and an Apple Store.
However, the name "Apple Park" does not only refer to the fact that the new headquarters consists of several buildings, but also to the amount of greenery surrounding the building. At the heart of the main office building will be a large wooded park with a pond in the center, and all the buildings will be connected by avenues of trees and meadows. In its final state, a full 80% of the entire Apple Park will be covered with greenery in the form of nine thousand trees of more than three hundred species and six hectares of native California meadows.
Apple Park will be powered entirely by renewable sources, with the majority of the energy needed (17 megawatts) supplied by solar panels located on the roofs of campus buildings. The main office building will then be the largest naturally ventilated building in the world, requiring no air conditioning or heating for nine months of the year.
Addressing Jobs and Apple Park, Jony Ive said: “Steve has put a lot of energy into fostering vital and creative environments. We approached the design and construction of our new campus with the same enthusiasm and design principles that characterize our products. Connecting extremely advanced buildings with large parks creates a wonderfully open environment where people can create and collaborate. We were extremely lucky to have the possibility of many years of close cooperation with the extraordinary architectural company Foster + Partners."
[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/92601836″ width=”640″]
If anyone is interested in the current form :) https://www.youtube.com/user/SuperTechAssistant/videos
When you realize that it wasn't that long ago that it all started in one little garage……unbelievable.