CUPERTINO | Apple Corporate Headquarters

[vandelay]

Steve Jobs Pitches Cupertino on Stunning New Apple Campus (http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/08/steve-jobs-pitches-cupertino-on-new-apple-campus/)

Cupertino City Council Presentation by Steve Jobs (http://youtu.be/gtuz5OmOh_M)

Late last year it was revealed that Apple purchased a 98-acre campus from Hewlett Packard, just up I-280 in Cupertino. Last night, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in trademark black turtleneck and jeans, explained Apple's plans for the space to the Cupertino City Council. Here's what the new 4-story building holding 12,000 employees will look like when it's completed in 2015:
http://i.imgur.com/WVWPH.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/Et1vp.jpg

Apple's plan will increase the site's office space from 2.6 million square feet to 3.1 million square feet, but the company will significantly improve the grounds around the offices, too, Jobs said.

The current HP campus features 20 percent landscaping. "It's pretty bad," admitted Jobs. The redesigned campus, however, will feature 80 percent landscaping, with twice the amount of indigenous trees. Most of the parking space will be relocated underground, Jobs also noted. (huffingtonpost (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/apple-campus-cupertino-steve-jobs_n_873032.html#s289120))
http://i.imgur.com/iFcEb.jpg

"It's a little like a spaceship landed. It's got this gorgeous courtyard in the middle... It's a circle. It's curved all the way around. If you build things, this is not the cheapest way to build something. There is not a straight piece of glass in this building. It's all curved. We've used our experience making retail buildings all over the world now, and we know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use. And, we want to make the glass specifically for this building here. We can make it curve all the way around the building..."
http://i.imgur.com/WA91s.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qJmEE.jpg

The green highlighted area in the lower left is the current location of the Apple campus. The area in the upper right is the future campus:
http://i.imgur.com/B7dPu.jpg

Although Jobs did not disclose the architect of the plan, in December of 2010 it was announced (http://tommytoy.typepad.com/tommy-toy-pbt-consultin/2010/12/the-city-of-apple-apples-new-corporate-headquarters-will-be-designed-by-norman-foster.html) that Foster + Partners were hired to create a plan for a new Apple campus.

[ardecila]

The architect is obviously Foster. Who else would do something like this?

[Onn]

This is like the Pentagon 2. The Pentagon is the largest building in the world and can hold 23,000 people, this can do 12,000. That just puts this monstrosity into prospective. I like concept, I'm not sure I would have picked Foster though. There's too much of Foster in the world already. He's almost as bad as Calatrava and his brigdes.

[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

i like,i like.

[STR]

This is like the Pentagon 2. The Pentagon is the largest building in the world and can hold 23,000 people, this can do 12,000. That just puts this monstrosity into prospective. I like concept, I'm not sure I would have picked Foster though. There's too much of Foster in the world already. He's almost as bad as Calatrava and his brigdes.

Pentagon is the largest Office Building, at ~6 million usable square feet. Sears Tower is the largest privately owned office building, at 4.5Msqft. This one is ~3.1Msqft, which would land somewhere around 15th largest office building in America. Comparable to the new Towers 1 & 2 at the World Trade Center site.

[denizen467]

^ Yep, many hangars, airport terminals, and malls have much more floor area than the biggest office buildings.

[The Grand Architect]

Pentagon is the largest Office Building, at ~6 million usable square feet. Sears Tower is the largest privately owned office building, at 4.5Msqft. This one is ~3.1Msqft, which would land somewhere around 15th largest office building in America. Comparable to the new Towers 1 & 2 at the World Trade Center site.

With this amount of office space, it's bound to be in the record books. I bet once this thing is completed, it would set an example for future architectural styles. No doubt.

[giantSwan]

I suppose I'll wait for more details...

but this looks like a dated 90s style corporate campus...gross...i thought apple was suppose to be forward thinking...this doesn't look like a place i would want to work at...

in contrast, google purchased a building in manhattan and is making moves to urbanize it's googleplex...

[Onn]

Pentagon is the largest Office Building, at ~6 million usable square feet. Sears Tower is the largest privately owned office building, at 4.5Msqft. This one is ~3.1Msqft, which would land somewhere around 15th largest office building in America. Comparable to the new Towers 1 & 2 at the World Trade Center site.

That's kind of implied, I would think...building of its kind. It is the largest office BUILDING in the world.

[The Grand Architect]

I suppose I'll wait for more details...

but this looks like a dated 90s style corporate campus...gross...i thought apple was suppose to be forward thinking...this doesn't look like a place i would want to work at...

in contrast, google purchased a building in manhattan and is making moves to urbanize it's googleplex...

How is this a 90's style?? This building is the first of it's kind to have that shape. It's unique, and I like how the implemented the "glass box" skyscraper concept to a low-rise building.

BTW, do you think they made the building a circular shape to represent an "apple" or fruit? I read in the article that the new spot for the campus contains "orchards." Which got me thinking: Orchard and Apple Inc. Orchard and Apple. Something's fishy. Coincidence?? I think not....

OR, they could have made it like this:

http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee430/kalsta1/therealnewapplecampus.jpg
Photo taken from user kalsta from macrumors.com

[Troubadour]

If nothing else, they're turning an entire block into greenery. That's something.

[ocman]

needlessly sprawling.

[JSsocal]

There is something to be said about the working environment and creativity, and this is at least replacing a traditional office park with something that is at least creative and beautiful. There aren't going to be high rises in Cupertino any time soon, and Apple doesn't want to relocate to somewhere urban for the sake of being somewhere urban, they have a long history in Cupertino. For some reason I keep thinking about Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin county building, something architecturally significant outside the region's center. This might be similar to that.

[denizen467]

^

I don't find this very creative or creativity-inspiring. On the interior, the view from every single fucking window will be the same (other than the foliage). How horribly monotonous. From the exterior, pretty much the same story. Creative types need variety, nooks, crannies, different environments for different moods, etc.; those things foster innovation.

On the functionality front, I don't know why offices (opposite one another) must needlessly be separated so far apart by a courtyard. An energy-efficient design would not needlessly add massive distance between co-workers.

On the image front, I think there will inevitably be detractors one day calling it a death star or something, especially, say, when Apple mis-steps or, say, gets too powerful in the music industry, etc.

So this strikes me as one of the stupidest designs ever for an office building. Do we know that this massing was the idea of Apple/Jobs and not Foster/the architect?

There are plenty of "insanely great" architects and designs out there that they could have chosen. Just one random example of interesting massing/layout just waiting to be built in California is www.big.dk/projects/ski (http://www.big.dk/projects/ski/) (the main building, not the little ones), adapted in some way for office use.

[JSsocal]

^This layout works just fine for the pentagon.

[giantSwan]

How is this a 90's style?? This building is the first of it's kind to have that shape. It's unique, and I like how the implemented the "glass box" skyscraper concept to a low-rise building.

BTW, do you think they made the building a circular shape to represent an "apple" or fruit? I read in the article that the new spot for the campus contains "orchards." Which got me thinking: Orchard and Apple Inc. Orchard and Apple. Something's fishy. Coincidence?? I think not....

OR, they could have made it like this:

http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee430/kalsta1/therealnewapplecampus.jpg
Photo taken from user kalsta from macrumors.com

I was implying the concept of building a corporate campus is 90s style, not the architecture. As someone else mentioned, it's needlessly sprawling, and for me personally, it's not anywhere I would want to work. To me, given the trends of the younger educated class, a more urban building with efficient land use and transportation options would be a better way to go. Exactly, why I mentioned some of the effort Google is putting into changing the googleplex and their additional buildings in the US

[denizen467]

^This layout works just fine for the pentagon.
I assume you're just being sarcastic, because neither can you say the Pentagon "works fine", nor is the Apple plan even sufficiently similar to the Pentagon.

It should be a clue that a design created 70 years ago (the Pentagon was designed before the US entered WWII) might not work any more ... or that a building type designed for rigid hierarchy, staid behavior, and a somber mission, would be appropriate for a creative & research & trend-setting organization. This is driven home by the fact that it would be hard to point to any office building that has ever replicated the Pentagon idea, despite the massive 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s boom of constructing sprawling corporate campuses in cornfields around the entire country. Yesterday's US News and World Report article also isn't impressed:

If the building does get built and completed by 2015, as Jobs hopes, the people who work there might be disappointed to discover that form trumps function. For its novelty, the Apple design is conceptually similar to another famous building that turned out to be a lot less practical than its planners hoped: the Pentagon.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20110610/ts_usnews/whatapplecanlearnfromthepentagon

And even some of the key redeeming aspects of the Pentagon fail to be adopted by Apple's plan: The courtyard in the Pentagon eats up only like 1/3 of the overall diameter, while Apple's plan is more like just the rind of a circle, putting huge distances between many offices. Also, Apple uses a monotonous circle, while a 5-sided building gives an opportunity for variations in views depending on where you are - not to mention all the nooks and crannies of the light courts in between the rings. If Apple had something like concentric rings and connecting passageways, then it would at least be in the Pentagon's league.

The apple logo shape someone suggested - or if they absolutely love simple shapes, how about a full sphere - would be better than this. The only real reason I could see for this shape would be to build a particle accelerator underneath it ... which is somewhat unlikely for various reasons. Also, where are the wind turbines, Steve?

[The Grand Architect]

The apple logo shape someone suggested - or if they absolutely love simple shapes, how about a full sphere - would be better than this. The only real reason I could see for this shape would be to build a particle accelerator underneath it ... which is somewhat unlikely for various reasons. Also, where are the wind turbines, Steve?



That would be me :)

[vandelay]

Apple has relied on its proximity to the R&D of Silicon Valley throughout its history. Silicon Valley is suburban. It would be out of character for Apple and the region to either establish an urban headquarters, or to put in an urban-style highrise. This will likely ruffle some feathers, but Apple is also primarily a lifestyle and design company now. Therefore this headquarters is more likely a symbol of Apple's corporate ethos/utopian ideal rather than a highly functioning facility for research, innovation, and development. This building will be another component in Apple's marketing. Not that I don't think that it could work as a functioning headquarters. Much of it depends on how the interior is organized (if you want to see a very well-designed space for R&D, look at the new MIT Media Lab).

I do get the sad feeling that this is Jobs's Xanadu though. I hope his health improves.

[denizen467]

^ I very much agree that Apple has become a lifestyle and design company (I was hoping writing "trend-setting" could encapsulate all that), basically since their portable music player and cellphone became popular. But I would think it would be safe to say that R&D will be put in their (huge) HQ building too, not to mention their biz-development (negotiations with record companies, cellphone carriers, parts), so the HQ will probably be packaging the fashionistas, the nerds, and the testosterone biz people all in one place.

As far as suburbanism, sure, there's no reason to require a downtown high-rise there, but most of suburbia is antithetical to good design and urban planning and environmentally sensitive land use. One could argue that replicating past paradigms is decidedly un-Apple-like. It would be nice if they could think outside the box more on this.

Either way I do wish Jobs well in his health issues.

[Aleks]

i too have questions about the efficiency of the campus, but i will say that i completely disagree with that many of you are saying.

saying that creative people need 'nooks and crannies' is not true at all. just look at japan, there are tons and tons of award winning, simplistic, white-walled buildings which inspire thousands of people who work and live around. churches, college buildings, etc... inspiration varies with individuals, not everyone needs a cozy corner to sit and ponder. and hell, apple did an amazing job imo with the courtyard idea, it gives dozens and dozens of 'nooks and crannies' for people to get inspired, and draw inspiration from nature.

the simplistic design is perfect for apple, a company which (if you haven't noticed) whips out simple designs. the pentagon comparison is only valid because it's a large, circular building. other than that they have nothing in common. apple will hire the best interior designers, space planners, and obviously draw feedback from employees. i still want to know about efficiency, but to me it seems like it won't be much of a problem. there's underground parking so there's bound to be an underground connection system, i wouldn't be surprised if they had shuttles either.

another thing, a pentagon has 5 sides, that means you can only get either 5 180 degree views, or 5 252 degree ones. and the only way you'll be able to get those 250 degree views is if you stand in a corner, one of the only 5 corners. other than that you're stuck with the same view all along one of the sides.

one last thing, apple isn't google either, they don't need or want swings and hammocks everywhere. google is reaching out to creative folks, apple wants people to come to them. i'll also disagree with your trend-setting/lifestyle comments. there are die hard apple fans, just the same way there are die hard microsoft one's. most (including me) just don't care. apple has whipped out some amazing products, and (even though i know nothing about computers) i doubt any company out there is close to matching it's software/products. the only real competitor for apple is google.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

I don't find this very creative or creativity-inspiring. On the interior, the view from every single fucking window will be the same (other than the foliage). How horribly monotonous. From the exterior, pretty much the same story. Creative types need variety, nooks, crannies, different environments for different moods, etc.; those things foster innovation.

But the foliage is precisely what will make every view unique as long as the landscaping is done well. Moreover, a building's plans and sections tell you about what kind of nooks, crannies and other interior spaces it houses. We have neither-- just some blurry renderings of the building-as-object and its footprint-- so it's a tad premature to claim that no such spaces will be provided.

Based on what we do know, it's clear that this building isn't urban, but it certainly doesn't embrace the suburbs (even though it's fundamentally suburban). It appears to be a giant cloister-- essentially inward looking-- surrounded by an artificial forest meant to give the illusion of nature/seclusion. Which is weird. Like some attempt to combine Walden Pond and corporate insularity.

[wong21fr]

Let's cut the crap, this new Apple HQ is obviously intended to hold Steve Jobs in his Golden Throne so that death will not deprive Apple of the messiah and his benevolent rule may continue through the ages.

This structure is part of the system to keep Jobs alive, likely by hooking up will Apple zealots directly to the building to provide Job with the vital nutrients and lifeforce he will need.

[OneMetropolis]

This design is honestly underwhelming. I was expecting way more, being that it is apple. Anyway the design is way too boring, like really a giant circular over sized doughnut...? That's all the supposedly most innovating company in the world could come up with...? Lame right?

[LWR]

More Views from the Apple campus. (updated renderings from the city of Cupertino, CA as posted by The Apple Insider).

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/08/13/city_of_cupertino_posts_further_details_on_apple_mega_campus.html

[1977]

Some more info:

Apple Submits Written Application to City for New Campus Development
Submitted August 13, 2011, 12:38 AM

Apple Inc. has at long last filed its formal application with the city of Cupertino to build its new headquarters, dubbed “Apple Campus 2” in the official record.

The application contains few surprises and tracks closely the information disclosed by company founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs when he spoke to the Cupertino City Council on June 7. That session was the first close-up look granted the public by Apple about its intentions for the nearly 176-acre site. That said, as with everything Apple, even the details are interesting...

Source and the remainder of the article: http://www.theregistrysf.com/RTRE_apple_campus_2.html

[vandelay]

Here's a pdf (http://www.cupertino.org/inc/pdf/apple/Renderings.pdf)of the renderings submitted by Foster + Partners.

Underwhelming design or not it's an impressive structure. The glass in the rendering of the dining area/great hall is particularly impressive.

[Onn]

This design is honestly underwhelming. I was expecting way more, being that it is apple. Anyway the design is way too boring, like really a giant circular over sized doughnut...? That's all the supposedly most innovating company in the world could come up with...? Lame right?

That's what they said about the Pentagon too, real funny. :haha:

[M II A II R II K]

Apple spaceship HQ might work in Cupertino


Read More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/08/MN751KUVFE.DTL

If Apple sought to build its new headquarters in San Francisco or Oakland or downtown San Jose, the scheme would be preposterous: a futuristic doughnut holding 12,000 workers amid 130 acres of trees and grass and shrubs. But the office park sprawl of Silicon Valley is something else, a landscape where context does not exist. So it's refreshing to see the firm behind iPods and iPhones show real architectural ambition - even when that ambition translates into a sci-fi fantasy best viewed from a helicopter.

- While the spaceship is the main attraction, it's not the structure that would be most visible to outsiders. That honor goes to the parking garage, which would form a streamlined wall along Interstate 280 four stories tall and 1,440 feet in length, with room for 4,300 cars - 1,715 more than San Francisco's Fifth & Mission garage, the city's most spacious. The garage is gargantuan. It also eliminates the need for surface parking lots, allowing a deep green buffer between the spaceship and Planet Cupertino.

- There's hubris in all this, absolutely: No space planner would fashion offices that require you to walk nearly half a mile indoors to reach a co-worker on the far side of the doughnut (will employees be issued Segways?). The idea is to set Apple apart from its peers. "We've seen these office parks with lots of buildings, and they get pretty boring pretty fast," Jobs told the Cupertino City Council in June. "We'd like to do something better than that."

- Again, I wouldn't want to see this campus land amid anything resembling a traditional city. A far better model to emulate is in San Francisco, where the software firm Salesforce is working with Mexico's Legorreta and Legorreta to fit a campus for 8,000 workers into the compact blocks of the Mission Bay redevelopment district.

- But the office and research parks built in suburban America since 1960 have never been about good urban design. If nothing else, Appledom as imagined by Jobs would challenge the conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley that one concrete shell is as good as the next. And if a cultural and technological bellwether like Apple says we need to change, the message can't help but hit home.

.....

[Alliance]

I see suburbia isnt dead...

[Dale]

I see suburbia isnt dead...

... praise God.

[CyberEric]

This really is disappointing, especially coming from one of the most innovative companies in the world.

[San Frangelino]

It'll look great on google maps.

[UrbanImpressionist]

This just epitomizes why I hate Silicon Valley. I have no idea how they get people to work & live there. It's the most ridiculously overrated place. It's boring, unimaginative, epitome of suburbia completely lacking in character that oddly is super expensive as well ...being in the tech industry I will NEVER move there.

All this is, is just a polished 1950-60s office design. Stale IMO.

If Apple truly wanted to be as innovative with a new campus as they are with their products and stores they'd create more a more mini-urban, neighborhood like with condos/apartments and a few stores connected for their employees to have access to (like West Village in Dallas or Easton Town Center in Columbus). Or something that includes modularity. Something that maintains corporate privacy but somehow integrates elements of the HQ with the city.

[M II A II R II K]

Apple builds a suburban lemon


Read More: http://newurbannetwork.com/news-opinion/blogs/philip-langdon/15267/apple-builds-suburban-lemon


.....

Steve Jobs, before he stepped down as Apple's CEO, released renderings of the building, which is to have four-story walls of glass that curve continuously to form an enormous circle, over four stories of underground parking. The perimeter of the 150-acre property is to be fenced to keep the public away. "It's a little like a spaceship landed," The Times quoted Jobs as saying of the building, which is intended to hold 12,000 employees and have its own power plant, fueled by natural gas. Jobs expressed pride that Apple had chosen the design despite the fact that a curved building "is not the cheapest way to build something."

- But why, in the second decade of the 21st century, would a company choose to erect a building reminds us of spaceships from corny movies produced in the 1950s? And why would a high-tech employer want to isolate its workplace from everything except nature—this at the very time when knowledge workers in their twenties and thirties are demonstrating a strong desire for stimulating urban settings? Some aspects of the choice surely reflect the predilections of the architect, Foster + Partners. Norman Foster's firm, though celebrated, has repeatedly paid inadequate attention to human scale and urban context.

- Hawthorne, in his Times piece, nails this issue. The interesting question, he says, "is whether a place like Cupertino can maintain its low-density sprawl in future decades, as the Bay Area's population continues to grow." The Cupertino City Council's eagerness to accommodate the proposed Apple headquarters "can be read," he says, "as an endorsement of a car-dependent approach to city and regional planning that might have made sense in the 1970s but will seem irresponsible or worse by 2050."

- Quite a few of the outlying business complexes built in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s have suffered a loss of allure, as New Urban Network reported in June 2010. It's hard to convert a mammoth, stand-offish corporate compound to use by multiple new, smaller users. A notorious example of this is the massive Union Carbide headquarters that was built in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1982. Union Carbide did not live much longer, and by 2007 the complex, designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, was worth less than half what it had cost to construct it. Apple may be making the same white-elephant mistake as Union Carbide. Even the dimensions of the park-like space inside the circle of the building are going to be unwieldy; Hess points out that "a one-third mile walk will be required to cross it from one meeting to another."

.....

[San Frangelino]

Love it or hate it, Apple might be correct in calling this building "ICon". This will probably be the closest thing Silicon Valley is ever gonna get to an Empire State Building.

[vandelay]

I find it amazing that just a few months before his death, and probably suffering a debilitating disease, Jobs took the time to present to that dinky Cupertino town board. Whether Apple likes it or not, this building is going to be a monument to Jobs and the Olympian heights that he took the company. Will it be a long decline, a collapse, or will Apple continue to flourish without Jobs? I'm dubious.

[patriotizzy]

RIP Jobs. I'm sure this will be built in his honor, in some way or another.

[Onn]

I find it amazing that just a few months before his death, and probably suffering a debilitating disease, Jobs took the time to present to that dinky Cupertino town board. Whether Apple likes it or not, this building is going to be a monument to Jobs and the Olympian heights that he took the company. Will it be a long decline, a collapse, or will Apple continue to flourish without Jobs? I'm dubious.

Never know, sometimes people are even more influential dead than alive. People might buy Apple products simply for posterity reasons now. :haha:

But it is funny how Jobs purposed this project right before he died. Apple pretty much has to go through with it now, it's his last wish.

[CyberEric]

Never know, sometimes people are even more influential dead than alive. People might buy Apple products simply for posterity reasons now. :haha:

But it is funny how Jobs purposed this project right before he died. Apple pretty much has to go through with it now, it's his last wish.

This tarnishes Jobs' legacy for me. The above article nailed it on the head, this project makes me sad and frustrated.

[dimondpark]

Apple builds a suburban lemon


Read More: http://newurbannetwork.com/news-opinion/blogs/philip-langdon/15267/apple-builds-suburban-lemon

Tech companies have been largely unapologetic about their preference for campus style office parks in suburban settings and usually dont view the placement and design of their headquarters' as an opportunity to make statements bemoaning sprawl.

This should come as no surprise.

What were the folks at newurbannetwork.com hoping for? A romanticized TOD surrounded by parking lots in Cupertino? Its certain that these companies have no desire to be in big city CBDs perhaps precisely because they DONT WANT to be in that kind of environment, which is their perogative. The article's bit about the desire of 30-somethings for a more urban environment in which to work in is something I have never seen manifested very much in Silicon Valley having worked there on several projects over the last 10-15 years.

Were I the majority shareholder of Apple, theyd be building a sleek 1,500 ft tall HQ in DT San Francisco but alas, I have no such power. Sometimes I think we get too drunk off our own kool aid. Just saying.

[vandelay]

Norman Foster is known to be a bit of a magpie with his designs. GCHQ (UK's NSA) in Cheltenham, UK, designed by Gensler looks familiar:

http://i.imgur.com/6xtH4.jpg

Apple HQ:
http://i.imgur.com/LrhDC.jpg

[jtk1519]

Apple Spaceship Campus Reportedly $2 Billion Over Budget Before Construction Has Begun
April 5, 2013

It’s expected that constructing a building ends up costing more than initial estimates predicted. After all, there are countless factors that figure into construction costs, from labor to material availability to seasonal considerations. Still, the final tab usually isn’t unreasonably inflated — unless, of course, you’re one of the world’s top architects (Norman Foster) and the project is the new Apple campus in Cupertino, California. The spaceship seen round the world, Apple Campus II is nearly $2 billion over budget already, and that’s before a single one of the design’s patented curved glass panes has even been fabricated. Continue.

Foster + Partners released the first plans of Apple’s new HQ nearly two years ago; then the project carried a massive $3 billion price tag. Today, estimates have peaked at $5 billion (yay, arithmetic), an unsettling, mind-addling figure that, according to a Bloomberg report, reflects the expense of the design’s more novel features . The aforementioned glass panes, which Jobs praised for being completely curved, have never been attempted before says Seele GhmbH, the German firm charged with their fabrication. An architect from the company says it’s going to produce “ something like 6 kilometers of glass,” far above the scales Seele is accustomed to working at. (“Normally we talk in terms of square feet.”)

...

http://www.architizer.com/en_us/blog/dyn/82146/apple-spaceship-campus-reportedly-2-billion-overbudget-before-construction-has-begun/

[denizen467]

^ Maybe Tim Cook is planning on using this as a reason to kill this dumb idea?

[mthd]

Norman Foster is known to be a bit of a magpie with his designs. GCHQ (UK's NSA) in Cheltenham, UK, designed by Gensler looks familiar:

http://i.imgur.com/6xtH4.jpg

Apple HQ:
http://i.imgur.com/LrhDC.jpg

foster copying gensler? that's rich. does armani copy the gap?

[ltsmotorsport]

^ Maybe Tim Cook is planning on using this as a reason to kill this dumb idea?

Hopefully so. This is truly a dumb idea, and one that is 20 years past it's prime. A more urban campus design would not only be great to attract new talent for Apple, but be a huge attractor for Cupertino in sprawl-central silicon valley.

[TechTalkGuy]

Here's the famous video of the late Steve Jobs presenting his proposal to the city council:
gtuz5OmOh_M

[vandelay]

foster copying gensler? that's rich. does armani copy the gap?

The Gap: 1969
Armani Jeans: 1981

Considering the prestige of the commission in his home country, there's almost no chance that Foster wasn't aware of the design. Foster's brand name doesn't mean he doesn't copy, excuse me, "find inspiration" in prior buildings.

In any case, it doesn't look like Apple HQ is going to go forward. It would look horrible for a corporation to spend billions on a vanity project when they've already been criticized for underpaying their retail workers and relying on despairing Chinese labor.

[mhays]

Amazon uses its downtown+nearby headquarters as a recruting tool. So does Microsoft, which has I'd guess about 1.5msf in Downtown Bellevue in addition to its larger presence in Redmond. Many cities have large tech presences in their downtowns and other urban districts. It's not that tech likes suburbia...it's that some companies such as Apple like suburbia.

[mthd]

The Gap: 1969
Armani Jeans: 1981

Considering the prestige of the commission in his home country, there's almost no chance that Foster wasn't aware of the design. Foster's brand name doesn't mean he doesn't copy, excuse me, "find inspiration" in prior buildings.


if you want to argue about a metaphor which was pretty clear, go ahead. I don't think anyone would question the prestige/quality relationship between Armani and the Gap.

Like all great architects, Foster has explored a number of themes repeatedly throughout his career. Idealized geometries are one, present in projects as disparate as the Gherkin and the building he did for Mclaren.

You might as well say he copied the Pentagon, or the designers of the Pentagon copies traditional Tu Lou from Fujian, who copied....

It shows a tremendous lack of respect (and understanding) for the work of someone who everyone would agree is one of THE great architects of the 20th/21st centuries to say he copied a Gensler office park.

[mthd]

Amazon uses its downtown+nearby headquarters as a recruting tool. So does Microsoft, which has I'd guess about 1.5msf in Downtown Bellevue in addition to its larger presence in Redmond. Many cities have large tech presences in their downtowns and other urban districts. It's not that tech likes suburbia...it's that some companies such as Apple like suburbia.

they don't necessarily like suburbia. They like horizontal development - because horizontal development puts many many many more people on the same floor. It's seen as important to collaboration. It's also (normally) cheaper, and there are some who believe a less distracting external environment yields higher productivity. In downtown SF workers would leave for lunch, coffee, happy hour at a much higher rate... Good for the city, perhaps bad for the bottom line.

[brian_b]

higher productivity. In downtown SF workers would leave for lunch, coffee, happy hour at a much higher rate... Good for the city, perhaps bad for the bottom line.

True story: The husband of one of my wife's coworkers (in their Silicon Valley office) moved out of their house and left divorce papers on the kitchen table. She didn't see them for a month and a half.

Maybe Apple should add a dormitory to their campus. It's where Silicon Valley high tech is headed - Apple can once again be the industry leader.

[vandelay]

if you want to argue about a metaphor which was pretty clear, go ahead. I don't think anyone would question the prestige/quality relationship between Armani and the Gap.

You might as well say he copied the Pentagon, or the designers of the Pentagon copies traditional Tu Lou from Fujian, who copied....

It shows a tremendous lack of respect (and understanding) for the work of someone who everyone would agree is one of THE great architects of the 20th/21st centuries to say he copied a Gensler office park.

Your argument boils down to 'prestige' and the appeal to celebrity and popularity to defend Foster (or Armani, for that matter). Accept the factual proposition that Foster's design has an obvious and contemporary antecedent, regardless of your personal biases regarding various architects. You'll also have to accept that others aren't so eager to supplicate themselves or their judgment to the same things as you do.

[mthd]

Your argument boils down to 'prestige' and the appeal to celebrity and popularity to defend Foster (or Armani, for that matter). Accept the factual proposition that Foster's design has an obvious and contemporary antecedent, regardless of your personal biases regarding various architects. You'll also have to accept that others aren't so eager to supplicate themselves or their judgment to the same things as you do.

my argument isn't about prestige, except in the fact that prestige is earned. it's about a nearly 50 year history of incredibly innovative practice. foster is a pritzker prize winner, two time stirling prize winner, amongst a zillion other achievements for some of the modern world's most noteworthy buildings. i don't accept the proposition that foster "copied" a completely banal donut shaped circular office campus (surrounding by parking and uninspired ancillary buildings) any more than he copied a hundred other circular courtyard buildings in the world.

i'm also not disparaging gensler - i have many friends and former colleagues who work at gensler and the firm does good work. but to say without any first-hand experience of foster's process and the history of this project that his firm is being a magpie displays a total lack of appreciation for modern architecture.

[vandelay]

but to say without any first-hand experience of foster's process and the history of this project that his firm is being a magpie displays a total lack of appreciation for modern architecture.

Do you have any 'first-hand experience of Foster's process' regarding this building, or are you just trying to browbeat someone for having a differing opinion than you?

I wonder how you, who is so quick to defer to awards and popularity, would react if a renowned architect accused Foster of plagiarism, like Santiago Calatrava for example (see Reichstag dome).

[spyguy]

I don't see how Apple will abandon this project now. Even if it is a misguided endeavor, they'll continue on just to save face. 1) Killing the project goes directly against Jobs' vision (a big no-no) 2) This project is widely known around the Bay area and world by now, so changing course would be the talk of the town and probably spook investors/analysts 3) Everyone else (Samsung, Google, Facebook, etc.) is planning elaborate new campuses or buildings nearby

[mthd]

Do you have any 'first-hand experience of Foster's process' regarding this building, or are you just trying to browbeat someone for having a differing opinion than you?

I wonder how you, who is so quick to defer to awards and popularity, would react if a renowned architect accused Foster of plagiarism, like Santiago Calatrava for example (see Reichstag dome).

if you have some facts to support that his inspiration was the gensler campus you introduced into the discussion, share them. until then, someone with a career as extraordinary as foster is innocent until proven guilty, especially when he has himself explored similar themes repeatedly.

i've met the man - very briefly, i've heard him speak at length, many times, several of my colleagues worked for him for years, and i've studied his work as much as any other architect practicing on large-scale work has. not that it matters on the internet, but i'm a licensed architect who has designed or been part of the design team for dozens of large scale projects. my opinions here are my own and not those of the firm i'm a part of, but i'm quite certain virtually every established architect i know would say that foster's high profile work is his own. not cribbed from gensler or anyone else.

[vandelay]

http://i.imgur.com/ddHrGl2.jpg

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24134003/apple-spaceship-campus-cupertino-final-approval-november

CUPERTINO -- Apple's (AAPL) "spaceship" campus in Cupertino could receive final approval by city officials before the end of November, and is slated to be completed in 2016, the city said Thursday.

As for the continuing discussion of Foster's cribbing of prior designs, here's another example (Rem Koolhas):
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/koolhaas-foster-clash-over-%E2%80%98similar%E2%80%99-designs/3087236.article

[Design-mind]

Looks like the Apple Headquarters have made it to final approvals. Hopefully we have an SSP fan in Cupertino to give us few photo updates. (iphone of course!)

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24559188/apples-new-headquarters-gains-approval-cupertino-city-council

http://bangphotos.smugmug.com/01News-2/Bay-Area/apples-proposed-new-office/i-T6Vnw5g/0/L/ssjm1013apple001-L.jpg

[vandelay]

The black roof really makes it look like a Chinese round house:

http://i.imgur.com/7H6UM7O.jpg

[vandelay]

pfZvimPkKio

This thing is massive.

[Design-mind]

From December 16th

http://static6.uk.businessinsider.com/image/54908c56dd0895be788b458e-1200-632/screen%20shot%202014-11-10%20at%209.16.27%20am.png

http://instamun.org/the-best-view-yet-of-apples-new-spaceship-headquarters-thats-beginning-to-take-shape-aapl/

[Design-mind]

Photo from June 5th.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGwjB-oVIAA3LKA.png:large

https://twitter.com/9to5mac

[Design-mind]

A new drone video from July 2...

QH7Ct-VMqtQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=128&v=QH7Ct-VMqtQ

[jbermingham123]

Search history of Apple's head architect: 'how to conceal particle accelerator' ...lol probably followed by... 'design of the pentagon'

"I figured it out.. I guess we'll call it.... a 'revolutionary new campus design'"

[BStyles]

Particle accelerator, huh? Explains all the levels below ground. Unless they're planning some top secret new research for beating Samsung.:haha:

[Design-mind]

A new drone video from December...

7X7RCNGo9qA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X7RCNGo9qA

[giantSwan]

Wow, it's time travel to 1990. Dead on arrival...no matter how nice this is - it doesn't have location, location, location. They would have been much better developing in SF...or at least building something more urban minded....

[Busy Bee]

Ehhh. I actually think this may be the exception to that rule. This will be so monolithic that it is essentially place making redefined.

[spyguy]

Wow, it's time travel to 1990. Dead on arrival...no matter how nice this is - it doesn't have location, location, location. They would have been much better developing in SF...or at least building something more urban minded....

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the area, but the location is actually pretty good for Apple:
1) Apple is a South Bay company and has been for some time. They have almost no presence in SF and I don't know where they could build something to fit their needs without running into huge opposition. This location is very close Apple's existing HQ complex plus dozens of other nearby current and future Apple buildings.
2) It's not as remote of a location as you might think looking at drone footage. Lots of retail and mixed-use redevelopments in the immediate area. It is however a mostly auto-oriented place (like the rest of Silicon Valley). But that's probably why they have their own private fleet of buses....

[giantSwan]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the area, but the location is actually pretty good for Apple:
1) Apple is a South Bay company and has been for some time. They have almost no presence in SF and I don't know where they could build something to fit their needs without running into huge opposition. This location is very close Apple's existing HQ complex plus dozens of other nearby current and future Apple buildings.
2) It's not as remote of a location as you might think looking at drone footage. Lots of retail and mixed-use redevelopments in the immediate area. It is however a mostly auto-oriented place (like the rest of Silicon Valley). But that's probably why they have their own private fleet of buses....

time will tell...

I think it will suite their needs for a period of time and then be very difficult to retrofit into something else...

reminds me of bell labs in NJ - invented the transistor, lasers, C, C++, etc etc

http://fortune.com/2015/02/02/bell-labs-real-estate-revival/

[k1052]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the area, but the location is actually pretty good for Apple:
1) Apple is a South Bay company and has been for some time. They have almost no presence in SF and I don't know where they could build something to fit their needs without running into huge opposition. This location is very close Apple's existing HQ complex plus dozens of other nearby current and future Apple buildings.


The failure to have any downtown presence or significant presence in other US cites is going to bite the company, I'd even say that's started. I've watched several professional friends turn down Apple positions (that were financially better by a large margin) because they don't want to do the 3 hour round trip form SF, relocate to the bay area, or live in the South Bay. Remote work is also strongly discouraged if not outright prohibited which is a significant difference from their other tech counterparts.

Apple has the resources to easily obtain a sizable downtown SF office tower and certainly to establish presences in other US cities. The people making the decisions simply have no desire to do so.

[jamesinclair]

The failure to have any downtown presence or significant presence in other US cites is going to bite the company, I'd even say that's started. I've watched several professional friends turn down Apple positions (that were financially better by a large margin) because they don't want to do the 3 hour round trip form SF, relocate to the bay area, or live in the South Bay. Remote work is also strongly discouraged if not outright prohibited which is a significant difference from their other tech counterparts.

Apple has the resources to easily obtain a sizable downtown SF office tower and certainly to establish presences in other US cities. The people making the decisions simply have no desire to do so.

Yeah for a cutting edge company, the corporate culture seems stuck in the 80s.

[tateyb]

Drone Update From New Apple Campus Shows Auditorium Roof in Place (http://skyrisecities.com/news/2016/03/drone-update-new-apple-campus-shows-auditorium-roof-place)

Videographer Duncan Sinfield has been providing monthly updates capturing the facility's construction with his drone. The largest curved glass panels in the world have arrived and are now appearing on the main Foster + Partners-designed structure while the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems on the roof are being covered with large plates. An arrangement of solar photovoltaic panels will serve as the final skin for the rooftop.

XIS0goqasgk

[vandelay]

May Drone Update:

VUs_YrLvA0k

[vandelay]

It should also be noted that Apple posted its first quarterly decline in iPhone sales and first quarterly decline in revenue in 13 years. Famous financier Carl Icahn just dumped his shares of Apple stock. It's been said that when companies build great buildings for themselves they're building their mausoleums and monuments to past greatness.

[Kngkyle]

This symbolizes everything that is wrong with pre-2000's urban planning. A suburban-style office park with room for 12,000 employees to park their cars. This is a sign, as much as anything else, that Apple has lost their edge.

If they wanted to be progressive with their new HQ they should have:
- Continued/created a street grid on the property with an emphasis on accommodating pedestrians and bikes
- Set aside some space for a few plazas/recreation areas/parks
- Have multiple office buildings ranging from 4 to 8 floors in height with underground parking with maybe a .5 parking ratio
- Mixed in with the office buildings there are apartment and condo buildings of similar heights with ground floor retail/restaurants/entertainment. These wouldn't be built or managed by Apple but Apple could have made the plans and sold off the parcels to other entities, potentially paying for a significant part of Apple's costs

This would give them a HQ where their employees can both live and work, even car-free if one desires. Instead they end up with this monstrosity from the 80s. I'm tempted to short Apple stock based on this alone.

[ardecila]

^ I hear your concerns but I'm not sure a street grid is the end-all, be-all of urban planning. Not everyone or everything needs to fit into that paradigm.

It does seem like there will at least be some underground parking in the facility, as well as ample open space. The open space at the center of the ring actually may provide a semi-urban sense of enclosure not usually found in the suburbs. It's a very harmonious, bounded space. I don't know the latest plan for this space but it does look like Apple will energize this space with its dining facilities being semi-outdoors, an amphitheater and fruit orchards for year-round fresh produce.

As far as transportation goes, Apple does indeed run an extensive system of shuttle buses. Caltrain is on its way to electrification, which will increase speeds and allow for more express trains from the city. Sadly it stops nowhere near Cupertino, but better bus and light rail options are planned for South Bay as well.

Ultimately I believe the mountain will come to Mohammed here. The market dictates that local officials will have to allow for more dense walkable nodes to be built and the existing nodes to be densified. I'm all for revitalization of cities, but SF no longer needs revitalization like so many other core cities, and SF's suburbs are going to be dragged kicking and screaming into becoming more walkable and dense.

[Design-mind]

From my flight out of San Francisco. We flew right over Cupertino.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7391/27390206552_d68ddfe72b_b.jpg

[vandelay]

July 2016 Construction Update:

V8W33JxjIAw

The way things are going people are calling this the last, great Apple product of the Steve Jobs era.

[The North One]

It should also be noted that Apple posted its first quarterly decline in iPhone sales and first quarterly decline in revenue in 13 years. Famous financier Carl Icahn just dumped his shares of Apple stock. It's been said that when companies build great buildings for themselves they're building their mausoleums and monuments to past greatness.

Damn, that sounds really depressing.

[vandelay]

August Construction Update:

1F6PFRxvu_0

So much infrastructure and building. If office buildings are hardware for work and innovation, Apple will be locked into this hardware for a very very long time and updates/alterations will be costly.

[mrnyc]

^ cool update, i was wondering what was happening with this...structure.

[vandelay]

October aerial roundup:

vXcXYsT5UI8

IWs6VimzsyU

TfDy4iGZAUU

[Design-mind]

One video mentions 11,000 parking stalls and the other 5,870. The size of the parkades I am guessing it would be closer to the 11,000 mark.

[vandelay]

December flyover update:

o1_Fo48S3W8

[Design-mind]

VLD126OMt7Y

[Truck]

Damn, that sounds really depressing.

yeah, wish they build a tower, that could be used by others when they are gone.

this will be bulldozed.

[vandelay]

http://i.imgur.com/hC8HRAh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gg7vRcw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wP6hveL.jpg

[hotwheels]

Enormous Apple Park Opening to Employees in April
(http://skyrisecities.com/news/2017/02/enormous-apple-park-opening-employees-april)Apple announced earlier this week that their new 175-acre campus, featuring an enormous ring-shaped building designed by Foster + Partners, will begin welcoming employees this April. Construction of the buildings and surrounding parkland comprising Apple Park will continue through the summer as the process of moving 12,000 people into the dramatic facility unfolds.

[phamtuyet1408]

I admire this corporation. Apple is one of the leading electronics companies in the world. The company gained notoriety with the iPhone and eventually the iPad. Apple products all run on iTunes, an exclusive music, television and movie software from Apple. iTunes eventually moved into free podcasts and online education in recent years. Steve Jobs was the creator and leading officer at Apple. The company was founded in 1976 and the company headquarters is found in Cupertino, California.

[wbner]

http://i65.tinypic.com/f9k17q.png

:titanic:

[Pedestrian]

Elon Musk Has an Awkward Problem at Tesla: Employee Parking
With more employees competing for limited spaces, cars are often jammed diagonally in spots, propped up on curbs or left on gravelly medians; ‘you’re getting your tires slashed’
By Tim Higgins
April 11, 2017 11:57 a.m. ET

. . . In Silicon Valley, parking is a classic barometer of booms and busts. Desolate lots at sprawling office complexes symbolized the dot-com implosion in 2000. Today, shuttle buses from Tesla, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. rumble across San Francisco and down Highway 101 to relieve congestion at ever-expanding corporate campuses. Yahoo Inc.’s empty parking spaces in recent years were said to illustrate its troubled times.

Tesla’s parking hell reflects a hiring binge that has expanded its head count by about 75% over the past two years to more than 17,000, not including employees of SolarCity Corp., which it acquired late last year. Its market value has soared to about the same level as the largest U.S. auto maker, General Motors Co . . . .

The chaos has forced employees to come up with clever workarounds, including secret deals at the factory to share spots with workers on opposite shifts. “Employees would enter into exclusive relationships, and payment would be made in the form of cash or a barter deal,” such as cigarettes or help rebuilding a car on the weekend, said Marissa Peretz, who spent five years as a recruiter for the auto maker until 2015, when she left to cofound her own headhunting firm.

Some workers arrive early to find spaces, and then go back to sleep in their cars until work begins, employees said. Others idle in their cars waiting for co-workers to leave, so they can pounce when spaces come open . . .

Getting out of the parking lot is a mess, too. Double-parked cars often box others in, causing employees to blow a gasket. The Instagram account captured a photo of a note left on a windshield that read, with some pointed expletives: “Next time you block 100+ people from getting out of the parking lot you’re getting your tires slashed”—signed, “Everyone” . . . .


https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-has-an-awkward-problem-at-tesla-employee-parking-1491926275

Apple is clearly booming. "Ha-ha".

[wbner]

> When someone says about "genius" Elon
http://i64.tinypic.com/2ep69hl.png


Cheap bicycle in 10x times greener than any car. We will see a collapse of tesla in next 3 years when "suddenly" lion batteries will die not even close to 8 years of warranty. Amazon already bet on hydrogen.

[Pedestrian]

^^You left out my ride, a Scarebeo 200. Don't work in Silicon Valley but for getting around San Francisco and being able to park in the city almost anywhere, it definitely beats any car. Cupertino would be a long daily ride for it though.

[Shwayze1994]

I'd much rather have Elon Musk than any oil executive or boring auto mogul doing what he's doing. At least he's doing something to change the status quo, which isn't working at all.

[vandelay]

http://i.imgur.com/U6roY6Q.jpg?1

Wired article on Apple's new headquarters, fascinating read and some nice photographs:

https://www.wired.com/2017/05/apple-park-new-silicon-valley-campus/

[mrnyc]

have any employees moved in yet? i see some were supposed to start in april. just wondering because it doesn't look quite ready as yet.

[vandelay]

June 2017 Aerial Update:

B27ccdSod9c

Another jewel in California's crown, regardless of the criticisms.

[vandelay]

YgzZnfAqLW8