Apple Park

Apple Park

Apple Park aerial view, August 2016. Apple Campus 1 is visible near the top.
Location within California
Alternative names Apple Campus 2
General information
Status Complete
Architectural style Neo-futurism
Address 1 Apple Park Way
Cupertino, CA 95014
Town or city Cupertino, California
Country United States
Coordinates 37°20′5″N 122°0′32″W / 37.33472°N 122.00889°W / 37.33472; -122.00889Coordinates: 37°20′5″N 122°0′32″W / 37.33472°N 122.00889°W / 37.33472; -122.00889
Groundbreaking November 2013
Completed Q1 2017[1]
Opening April 2017[2]
Cost ≈ USD 5 billion (the land cost was estimated at $160 million)[3]
Owner Apple Inc.
Dimensions
Other dimensions Accommodating more than 12,000 staff[2]
Technical details
Floor count 4[4]
Floor area 2,800,000 sq ft (260,000 m2)[4]
Grounds 175 acres (71 hectares)[2]
Design and construction
Architect Lord Norman Foster[5]
Architecture firm Foster and Partners[4]
Other information
Parking 14,200

Apple Park is the future headquarters of Apple Inc. in Cupertino, California. It opened in April 2017, though construction continues to complete the buildings and its interiors. Its research and development facilities are already occupied with over 2,000 people. It will replace the current headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop.[6]

Its circular design and extreme scale have earned a media nickname of 'the spaceship'.[7][8][9] Located on a suburban site totaling 175 acres (71 hectares), it is planned to house more than 12,000 employees in one central four-storied circular building of approximately 2,800,000 square feet (260,000 square meters). Steve Jobs wanted the whole campus to look less like an office park and more like a nature refuge. Eighty percent of the site will be green space planted with drought-resistant trees and plants indigenous to the Cupertino area.[9]

History

Apple Park main building (light green) compared to large ships and buildings:
  The Pentagon, 1,414 feet, 431 m
  RMS Queen Mary 2, 1,132 feet, 345 m
  USS Enterprise, 1,123 feet, 342 m
  Hindenburg, 804 feet, 245 m
  Yamato, 863 feet, 263 m
  Empire State Building, 1,454 feet, 443 m
  Knock Nevis, ex-Seawise Giant, 1,503 feet, 458 m
  Apple Park, 1,522 feet, 464 m

The building was conceived by Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs, and designed by Lord Norman Foster. Jobs took Foster to the cathedral-like building on the Pixar campus in Emeryville, which Jobs designed himself with the goal of keeping everything under one roof. Steve Jobs spent a large part of two years on the project before his death in 2011.

In April 2006, Steve Jobs announced to the city council of Cupertino that Apple had acquired nine contiguous properties to build a second campus, the Apple Campus 2.[10]

Purchases of the needed properties were made through the company Hines Interests,[11][12] which in at least some cases did not disclose the fact that Apple was the ultimate buyer;[12] Philip Mahoney, a partner with a local commercial real estate brokerage, noted that this is common practice in attempts to arrange the purchase of contiguous land made up of multiple parcels with separate owners, in order to keep costs from skyrocketing and not reveal the company's plans to competitors.[12] Among the sellers of the properties were SummerHill Homes (a plot of 8 acres or 3.2 hectares) and Hewlett-Packard (three buildings of their campus in Cupertino), among others.[12]

Until April 2008, Apple had not sought the necessary permits to begin construction, so it was estimated that the project would not be ready in 2010 as originally proposed; however, the buildings on the site are being currently held by Apple for its operations. In November 2010 the San Jose Mercury News revealed[13] that Apple had bought an additional 98 acres (40 ha) no longer used by HP Inc., just north across Pruneridge Ave. This space used to be the HP campus in Cupertino before it was relocated to Palo Alto.

On June 7, 2011, Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs presented to Cupertino City Council details of the architectural design of the new buildings and their environs.

On October 15, 2013, Cupertino City Council unanimously approved Apple's plans for the new campus after a six-hour debate.[14] Shortly thereafter, demolition work began to prepare the site for construction.[15]

Originally expected to break ground in 2013 and open in 2015, the project experienced delays and started in 2014.[16][17] It is expected to open in April 2017, according to an Apple press release on February 22, 2017.[2]

On February 22, 2017 Apple announced the official name of the campus to be "Apple Park", and the auditorium to be named "Steve Jobs Theater".[2]

Design

Panorama of Apple Park under construction, July 2016

Steve Jobs was quoted as saying: "It's got a gorgeous courtyard in the middle, and a lot more. It's a circle, so it's curved all the way round. This is not the cheapest way to build something. Every pane of glass in the main building will be curved. We have a shot, at building the best office building in the world. I really do think that architecture students will come here to see it." This proved to be Jobs' last public appearance before his death in October 2011.[18]

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).

The building core and shell were started by DPR/Skanska but they were removed from the job for disclosed reasons. While Rudolph & Sletten and Holder Construction worked to complete core and shell along with the interior fit-out.

Costs

The land cost was estimated at $160 million. In 2011, the budget for Apple’s Campus 2 was less than $3 billion.[19] However, in 2013 the total cost was estimated to be closer to $5 billion.[19][20]

Location

I-280 and Stevens Creek Blvd., San José and Cupertino, California, showing Apple Park; aerial looking west into the sun on takeoff from San José International Airport
Apple Park under construction, January 2016

Apple has had a presence in Cupertino since 1977, which is why the company decided to build in the area rather than move to a cheaper, distant location. Park is located one mile east of the existing facility. The campus is also next to a contaminated site under Superfund legislation with a groundwater plume.[21]

Facilities

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[2] 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. It will have 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 theater's above-ground lobby 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.[22]

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. The top floor will house the R&D department comprising industrial design and human interface teams headed by design chief, Jonathan Ive.

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.[23] Cupertino regulations require an estimated 11,000 parking spaces.[24]

When Apple Park opens, 700 new electric vehicle charging ports will be added on-site.[25]

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.[26]

Visitor center

The North Tantau Avenue Visitor Center is a two-story 20,135 sq ft (1,870.6 m2) structure which features a 2,386 sq ft (221.7 m2) café and observation deck overlooking the campus and an Apple Store.[27] The estimated cost of the center is $80M.[28] The property at 10700 N. Tantau (NE corner of Tantau and Pruneridge) is across the road from the campus proper and abuts a Santa Clara residential neighborhood.[29] The underground parking garage, with close to 700 spaces, has an estimated cost of $26 million.

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.

The barn

The land that Apple purchased for the campus came with an old barn that was built in 1916 by John Leonard using redwood planks. Leonard married into the Glendenning Family, who immigrated to the United States from Scotland and settled in the area in the 1850s. After Apple purchased the property, there were discussions between Apple, the City of Cupertino, and the Cupertino Historical Society as to the fate of the barn. The city had an interest in the fate of the barn, because the city declared the barn in 2004 as "a historical site". Eventually Apple agreed to keep the barn on the property, and is using it to "store maintenance tools and other landscaping materials". The barn did have to be disassembled during the campus construction and then reassembled.[30] The barn was re-assembled in a different location from where it was originally situated.[31]

Landscaping

Currently, only 20% of the campus is green space; when Apple is done with construction, it will consist of 80% green space.[32] 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][9] 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.[33] Of the 4,506 trees on the 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.

Inner courtyard

The inner courtyard is 30 acres (12 ha), and covered in fruit trees with a pond. Measurements of the Apple inner courtyard "central park" via Google Earth yields 24.7 acres.

Energy supply

The site will be powered entirely from renewable energy, and will be one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world.[2] The solar panels installed on the roof of the campus can generate 17 megawatts of power, sufficient to power 75% during peak daytime,[34] and making it one of the biggest solar roofs of the world. The other 4 megawatts will be generated onsite using Bloom Energy Server fuel cells, which are powered by biofuel or natural gas.[35] 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.[2]

Miscellaneous

Drone videography

Throughout the construction process, several videographers have flown video-recording UAVs (better known simply as "drones") over the site in order to capture the construction process as it has progressed over time, which many news sites have used to keep the general public informed about ongoing works.[36][37]

During the opening Keynote Address of the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi jokingly alluded to the drone videography at Apple Park during its construction by making light of the situation.[38]

Apple has been aggressive in trying to keep drones off its property. It has hired security guards who ask drone operators to leave if caught. If a drone operator refuses a request to leave, Apple has called law enforcement to have the drone operators "forcibly removed."[39]

Surrounding area

As a consequence of the construction of Apple Park in the area, surrounding streets have met with both increased tourism, along with rising real estate values of local housing, often drawing in Apple employees wanting to live near to work.[40][41]

References

  1. ↑ "Apple Campus 2 Construction Update". City of Cupertino. Cupertino, CA: City of Cupertino. June 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Apple Park opens to employees in April". Apple Newsroom. Apple Inc. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  3. ↑ Apple Campus 2 cost 5 billion Projects: Foster and Partners
  4. 1 2 3 "Apple Campus 2: Project Description" (pdf). City of Cupertino. Cupertino, CA: Apple Inc. Sep 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  5. ↑ Wainwright, Oliver (November 15, 2013). "All hail the mothership: Norman Foster's $5bn Apple HQ revealed" – via The Guardian.
  6. ↑ Reisinger, Don (May 31, 2016). "Apple Campus 2 Looking Good in New Drone Flyover". Fortune.
  7. ↑ Moore, Amy. "Complete guide to Apple Park, Apple's new 'spaceship' campus". Macworld UK. Retrieved 2017-05-07.
  8. ↑ VanHemert, Kyle. "Look Inside Apple’s Spaceship Headquarters With 24 All-New Renderings". WIRED. Retrieved 2017-05-07.
  9. 1 2 3 O'Brien, Chris (June 4, 2016). "A look at Apple’s insanely ambitious tree-planting plans for its new spaceship campus". VentureBeat.
  10. ↑ "News : Apple Campus 2 Project Update". Cupertino. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  11. ↑ Sharon Simonson (April 21, 2006). "Apple teams with Texas firm on new Cupertino campus". San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Chandler, Michele (Apr 28, 2006). "How Apple found 50 acres in Cupertino and why they paid big bucks for it". San Jose Mercury-News. Archived from the original on June 28, 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  13. ↑ Bailey, Brandon (August 13, 2016). "Apple makes big land purchase in Cupertino". The San Jose Mercury News.
  14. ↑ May, Patrick (15 October 2013). "Cupertino council clears huge Apple 'spaceship' campus for liftoff". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  15. ↑ Clover, Juli (2013-12-05). "Demolition at New Apple Campus 2 Well Underway". MacRumors.
  16. ↑ Fry, Stephen (May 26, 2015). "When Stephen Fry met Jony Ive the self-confessed tech geek talks to Apple's newly promoted chief design officer". telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
  17. ↑ Peter Burrows (November 21, 2012). "Jobs’s Spaceship-Like Apple Offices Completion Meets Delays". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  18. ↑ Lashinsky, Adam (February 23, 2017). "Steve Jobs’ Legacy Lives On in Apple’s New Campus". Fortune.
  19. 1 2 Burrows, Peter. "Inside Apple's Plans for Its Futuristic, $5 Billion Headquarters". Businessweek. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  20. ↑ "Apple Campus 2 nearly $2 billion over budget and behind schedule, says Bloomberg". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  21. ↑ Hugh Biggar (June 7, 2006). The Cupertino Courier.
  22. ↑ Murphy, Mike. "What is Apple actually doing besides building that ridiculously expensive new headquarters?".
  23. ↑ Moore, Amy. "Apple sends out photos of near-complete Campus 2 HQ ahead of 2017 launch".
  24. ↑ Leswing, Kif (April 9, 2017). "Apple’s new $5 billion campus has more space for parking than offices". BusinessInsider.
  25. ↑ "Environmental Responsibility Report" (PDF). Apple Inc. 2017.
  26. ↑ Myllenbeck, Kristi (February 24, 2017). "Apple Park: Cupertino shares insights into traffic, sheer size of project". The Mercury News.
  27. ↑ "Here are all the details on Apple Park, the company’s massive new spaceship campus". Fast Company. February 22, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  28. ↑ Campbell, Mikey (January 18, 2016). "Apple to spend $80M on Campus 2 visitor center". AppleInsider.
  29. ↑ Elmer-DeWitt, Philip (July 30, 2015). "Apple visitor’s center will offer views of Steve Jobs’ Spaceship". Fortune.
  30. ↑ Myllenbeck, Kristi (July 14, 2017). "Barn at Apple Park represents ‘hard work’ of generations of ‘visionaries’". San Jose Mercury News.
  31. ↑ Rossignol, Joe (July 13, 2017). "Apple Has Finished Moving and Precisely Reassembling a Historic Barn At Its New Headquarters".
  32. ↑ "Steve Jobs TV Appearance at the Cupertino City Council (6/7/11)". YouTube. July 6, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  33. ↑ "California Native Grasslands Association - Grass Facts".
  34. ↑ "Cupertino : City News : Steve Jobs Presents to Cupertino City Council".
  35. ↑ "Apple's Campus 2 to use updated Bloom Energy fuel cells first deployed at NC data center".
  36. ↑ "Apple Park". MacRumors. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  37. ↑ "Apple Park". 9to5Mac. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  38. ↑ Federighi, Craig (June 5, 2017). "Apple Events - WWDC Keynote, June 2017 - Apple". Apple Inc. Event occurs at 01:50:33. Retrieved June 6, 2017. I have some great photos here of some potential drone protection options for the new campus...and that includes this drone defense proposal right here... [shows image of Apple Park taking-off like a spaceship, with words "Last Resort" printed on it]
  39. ↑ Jeffrey, Cal (July 18, 2017). "Apple has declared the airspace above its new campus a 'no-fly zone'".
  40. ↑ Leong, Kathy Chin (July 4, 2017). "Apple Disrupts Silicon Valley With Another Eye-Catcher: Its New Home". The New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  41. ↑ Broussard, Mitchel (July 5, 2017). "Houses Near Apple Park Met With Increased Tourism and Rising Real Estate Values". MacRumors. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
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