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Honestly, how can you say that? There is absolutely nothing but love put into this building. Jobs spent his last years on earth dedicated to it, to every single

Honestly, how can you say that? There is absolutely nothing but love put into this building. Jobs spent his last years on earth dedicated to it, to every single last detail, because he wanted a home for apple, a real home. It's easy to be cynical, but I think it's hard and therefore admirable to rise above that tendency when something truly beautiful and genuine comes along. Now I don't blame you for feeling that way, it's what we're surrounded by, but let's not ignore the one counter example when it's right in front of us!

jonknee 9y ago
It's still a car focused suburban office park with an open office floor plan... No amount of love is going to change the fundamentals.
- asimpletune 9y ago
  I definitely agree with your car comment, and to that point would temper that statement by cautioning not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Cars are, presently, an unavoidable fact of life. This is a shame, but all else considered it's the best possible outcome with the present circumstances. Things will improve however, one day. About the open office plan, I don't think that's the case at all. I don't know if we know enough about it to say, but I think enough is known to say it has a prototypical open office floor plan. Maybe if one were to be overly technical and argue that it is technically "open" then I would have no choice but to agree, however that's not really a common sense way of looking at things. It looks like the pods resemble something more akin to how whales organize. Plus I can't believe they'd spend so much time designing the hardware without giving the software some thought, if my analogy makes sense.
  - jonknee 9y ago
    > Cars are, presently, an unavoidable fact of life. This is a shame, but all else considered it's the best possible outcome with the present circumstances. Things will improve however, one day. Indeed, I am currently looking out my window at several Amazon office towers that most employees didn't drive to.
    - asimpletune 9y ago
      That sounds wonderful, a similar situation here in SF.
    - valuearb 9y ago
      Thats what you think.
    - kerbalspacepro 9y ago
      why do my packages keep getting to my house a day earlier than i expect?
  - valuearb 9y ago
    It absolutely does not have an open floor plan. The pods are 1-2 person offices with sliding glass doors so you can work quietly.
- Someone1234 9y ago
  I agree with your car point. The problem is we current have three choices: - Cars - "Company Store"-style housing (e.g. get fired, get made homeless) - Good public transport. The third option is obviously the best but it is outside of any single company's control. To get good quality public transport the entire city (or cities) need to be onboard, invest sometimes billions of dollars, and likely run it at a near loss (since most public transport systems lose money). If someone knows of an alternative not listed above, I'd like to read about it. And, no, automated vehicles aren't an alternative because they don't actually exist in production yet.
  - 3stripe 9y ago
    - Bicycles.
  - Arizhel 9y ago
    They could build SkyTran. It's perfectly suited for the Bay Area. The tech companies together could easily invest in it and bring it to fruition; the fundamental technology is already developed. The other thing they can do is what Google does: buy their own buses and bus in some of the employees from key locations. It's not exactly "public transport", but it's pretty close, and doesn't make anyone homeless if they lose their job there, and it wouldn't cost the company much, while it'd save a lot of cars from pouring emissions into the air every day.
    - ac29 9y ago
      > The other thing they can do is what Google does: buy their own buses and bus in some of the employees from key locations. They do that already. I work down the street from the current Apple headquarters and the sheer amount of Apple buses during commute hours is insane. They must come every few minutes from 8-10a and 4-7p or so, because its rare for me to see less than 2 or 3 within a couple blocks of HQ during those hours.
  - jonknee 9y ago
    Or a fourth option of not building an office for 12,000 people in a suburban area. It's literally across the street from single family homes and there is not a tall building anywhere close to the campus.
- kylec 9y ago
  Not everyone dislikes "car focused suburban office parks". Many people, myself included, prefer them. I love being able to get in my car and arrive at work in 10 minutes. I love living in an area where I can drive to and park at restaurants, grocery stores, etc.
  - asimpletune 9y ago
    Why would anyone doenvote this? They're simply expressing their preference, it's within their right.
- arrrg 9y ago
  The personal spaces inside the pods seem to provide space for at most two people if they were working there constantly (two tables on either side). There are walls on three sides and a glass wall with door on the fourth. So that’s not really an open office floor plan.
- valuearb 9y ago
  It's not an open floor plan.
jshevek 9y ago
Easy to be cynical, hard to admire? No. It's easy to be a fanboy, hard to take an honest look at how this is just a prettier beehive for the drones.
- dntrkv 9y ago
  What is with this cynicism? Bay area tech "drones" are some of the luckiest workers in the world. I work at a pretty average tech company here in the bay and every day I am amazed at how good I have it. I get paid multiple times the country average, I live in a beautiful city, I take at least a month off per year, I work with awesome people on fun projects using cool, new tech. Jesus, what more could you ask for? Most people I know here in the bay feel similarly yet here on HN I only see this cynicism. Here we have a company that goes way out of their way to build a ridiculously cool campus for their employees and the top comment is talking about how it's no different from what we see in Office Space. Jesus christ are you all really that jaded?
  - jshevek 9y ago
    The top comment did not say what you claim they said. Being "no different" is not the same as "still the same in certain respects" I don't think this building is "ridiculously cool." "Out of their way" ? Are you suggesting altruism or generosity?
    - valuearb 9y ago
      They don't have cubes. They don't have an open floor plan. Those single person pod/offices are huge productivity benefits that most tech companies simply won't invest in.
      - jshevek 9y ago
        "Huge productivity benefits" Citation needed.
        valuearb 9y ago
Markoff 9y ago
it's just boring massive circle without zero innovation, i recommend you to look up in Google keywords Zaha Hadid or organic architecture to see some actual cool and beautiful buildings instead of this... circle people would be probably praising it even if it would be just another boring skyscraper just because it's Apple well i have news for you, just because it's Apple HQ it doesn't make it really interesting or nice building from architectural standpoint

jonknee 9y ago

It's still a car focused suburban office park with an open office floor plan... No amount of love is going to change the fundamentals.

asimpletune 9y ago
I definitely agree with your car comment, and to that point would temper that statement by cautioning not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Cars are, presently, an unavoidable fact of life. This is a shame, but all else considered it's the best possible outcome with the present circumstances. Things will improve however, one day. About the open office plan, I don't think that's the case at all. I don't know if we know enough about it to say, but I think enough is known to say it has a prototypical open office floor plan. Maybe if one were to be overly technical and argue that it is technically "open" then I would have no choice but to agree, however that's not really a common sense way of looking at things. It looks like the pods resemble something more akin to how whales organize. Plus I can't believe they'd spend so much time designing the hardware without giving the software some thought, if my analogy makes sense.
- jonknee 9y ago
  > Cars are, presently, an unavoidable fact of life. This is a shame, but all else considered it's the best possible outcome with the present circumstances. Things will improve however, one day. Indeed, I am currently looking out my window at several Amazon office towers that most employees didn't drive to.
  - asimpletune 9y ago
    That sounds wonderful, a similar situation here in SF.
  - valuearb 9y ago
    Thats what you think.
  - kerbalspacepro 9y ago
    why do my packages keep getting to my house a day earlier than i expect?
- valuearb 9y ago
  It absolutely does not have an open floor plan. The pods are 1-2 person offices with sliding glass doors so you can work quietly.
Someone1234 9y ago
I agree with your car point. The problem is we current have three choices: - Cars - "Company Store"-style housing (e.g. get fired, get made homeless) - Good public transport. The third option is obviously the best but it is outside of any single company's control. To get good quality public transport the entire city (or cities) need to be onboard, invest sometimes billions of dollars, and likely run it at a near loss (since most public transport systems lose money). If someone knows of an alternative not listed above, I'd like to read about it. And, no, automated vehicles aren't an alternative because they don't actually exist in production yet.
- 3stripe 9y ago
  - Bicycles.
- Arizhel 9y ago
  They could build SkyTran. It's perfectly suited for the Bay Area. The tech companies together could easily invest in it and bring it to fruition; the fundamental technology is already developed. The other thing they can do is what Google does: buy their own buses and bus in some of the employees from key locations. It's not exactly "public transport", but it's pretty close, and doesn't make anyone homeless if they lose their job there, and it wouldn't cost the company much, while it'd save a lot of cars from pouring emissions into the air every day.
  - ac29 9y ago
    > The other thing they can do is what Google does: buy their own buses and bus in some of the employees from key locations. They do that already. I work down the street from the current Apple headquarters and the sheer amount of Apple buses during commute hours is insane. They must come every few minutes from 8-10a and 4-7p or so, because its rare for me to see less than 2 or 3 within a couple blocks of HQ during those hours.
- jonknee 9y ago
  Or a fourth option of not building an office for 12,000 people in a suburban area. It's literally across the street from single family homes and there is not a tall building anywhere close to the campus.
kylec 9y ago
Not everyone dislikes "car focused suburban office parks". Many people, myself included, prefer them. I love being able to get in my car and arrive at work in 10 minutes. I love living in an area where I can drive to and park at restaurants, grocery stores, etc.
- asimpletune 9y ago
  Why would anyone doenvote this? They're simply expressing their preference, it's within their right.
arrrg 9y ago
The personal spaces inside the pods seem to provide space for at most two people if they were working there constantly (two tables on either side). There are walls on three sides and a glass wall with door on the fourth. So that’s not really an open office floor plan.
valuearb 9y ago
It's not an open floor plan.

jshevek 9y ago

Easy to be cynical, hard to admire? No. It's easy to be a fanboy, hard to take an honest look at how this is just a prettier beehive for the drones.

dntrkv 9y ago
What is with this cynicism? Bay area tech "drones" are some of the luckiest workers in the world. I work at a pretty average tech company here in the bay and every day I am amazed at how good I have it. I get paid multiple times the country average, I live in a beautiful city, I take at least a month off per year, I work with awesome people on fun projects using cool, new tech. Jesus, what more could you ask for? Most people I know here in the bay feel similarly yet here on HN I only see this cynicism. Here we have a company that goes way out of their way to build a ridiculously cool campus for their employees and the top comment is talking about how it's no different from what we see in Office Space. Jesus christ are you all really that jaded?
- jshevek 9y ago
  The top comment did not say what you claim they said. Being "no different" is not the same as "still the same in certain respects" I don't think this building is "ridiculously cool." "Out of their way" ? Are you suggesting altruism or generosity?
  - valuearb 9y ago
    They don't have cubes. They don't have an open floor plan. Those single person pod/offices are huge productivity benefits that most tech companies simply won't invest in.
    - jshevek 9y ago
      "Huge productivity benefits" Citation needed.
      - valuearb 9y ago

Markoff 9y ago

it's just boring massive circle without zero innovation, i recommend you to look up in Google keywords Zaha Hadid or organic architecture to see some actual cool and beautiful buildings instead of this... circle people would be probably praising it even if it would be just another boring skyscraper just because it's Apple well i have news for you, just because it's Apple HQ it doesn't make it really interesting or nice building from architectural standpoint