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Steve Jobs Presents His Ideas For A New Apple Campus
- delackner 15y agoWhen I saw that aerial three-quarter image of the building, I started to imagine crossing from one side of the campus to the other via that inner garden. Somehow the burning man city layout popped into my head, along with memories of crossing the vast open middle on foot (not recommended. Only attempted a bicycle-free year once).
- flyt 15y agoReally, really nice looking building and landscaping. Why keep the IL1 campus, instead of just moving everybody into a slightly larger mothership in 2015?
- hammerdr 15y agoSounds like they still need the space. 20% Increase with 13000 current employees. IL1 will be needed to house everyone.
- redthrowaway 15y agoThey haven't built the new one yet; they could always make it bigger. Even simply thickening it would likely add a ton of space.
- elithrar 15y agoIt would also darken the building and require more artificial light, which it seems they're trying to avoid.
- redthrowaway 15y agoThey could always use skylight tubes [1] Or, if they really wanted to go green... [2] [1] http://www.solatube.com/commercial/index.php http://www.solatube.com/commercial/index.php [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zMAWztZ6TI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zMAWztZ6TI
- clinton 15y agoI suspect it would make a pretty awesome skunkworks, hidden away from the glitz of the new main campus.
- hugh3 15y agoJust because they've got money to burn doesn't mean they want to burn money. They own Infinite Loop, and they'd have a hard time finding a buyer. Besides, moving everybody in the entire company into a new building sounds like a major pain and a disruption to operations.
- lurker19 15y agoThat is what Amazon did last year, on a rolling basis as leases expired.
- bkudria 15y agoWell now you know what they've been hoarding that cash money for.
- redthrowaway 15y agoI'm sure it won't cost 60BB. Although, it would be interesting to see what the budget is.
- rmason 15y agoNot only will the new building become a tourist destination but it will be a prime tool for recruiting.
- Luyt 15y agoAll the greenery and landscaping also made me wondering in what extent this new campus will be accessible to the general public. Will you be able to just go there and take a walk in Apple Park, or will there a big fence around it? In the presentation you see casual people walking and playing about.
- a-priori 15y agoI expected the council to demand that he make at least part of the campus open to the public. You know, if they weren't being fangirls over Jobs.
- joeguilmette 15y agoif i didn't enjoy free time so much i'd love to work in this new building :)
- cleverjake 15y agoI recently went to 1 infinite loop for the first time, and was extremely disappointed with the building. It was strikingly anti-apple in its aesthetic, seeming more like it was something out of Office Space from most angles rather than from the mind of Johnny Ives. I am really glad to see how forward-thinking the concept looks.
- grinich 15y agoThe Infinite Loop campus was actually buit in 1993, before Steve returned and Jony was made head of ID. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Loop_(street) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Loop_(street)
- hugh3 15y agoIndeed, when Infinite Loop was built a Mac looked like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadra_700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadra_700
- cleverjake 15y agoI know it was before jony, I just meant it was very different from their modern look.
- pjy04 15y agoThey should have asked when the iPhone 5 is coming out Plus: very sneaky for the council to ask for free wifi, ipads, more apple stores, donations for schools in this presentation...
- yardie 15y agoCould have been worse. They could have requested hookers and blow. And donations wired to an offshore account :-)
- JanezStupar 15y agoSneaky? It was slimy if you ask me. Their job is to represent the best interest of community. Building this campus may indeed be in the best interest of community. But there is no need for them to wag their tails and squeal at Jobs like they did. The guy on the left at managed to pretended that he knows why he is there. But I must admit that I have no clue how I would react after having mind blown like that.
- swombat 15y agoAn architect friend of mine commented: "they always ask for free wifi". He also said that it's amazing salesmanship on Steve Jobs' part to have pitched this and basically given nothing to the council. Most councils manage to squeeze all sorts of concessions from even large multinationals (e.g. banks in the UK). Steve gave them, basically, nothing - not even free wifi. If they'd been more savvy they could probably have had their free wifi and Apple store - it's cheaper to Apple than relocating 10k employees to another city and drawing all the plans again from scratch. Steve may be known for holding grudges, but he's also a relatively rational businessman.
- hugh3 15y agoIf they'd been more savvy they could probably have had their free wifi and Apple store - it's cheaper to Apple than relocating 10k employees to another city and drawing all the plans again from scratch. Steve may be known for holding grudges, but he's also a relatively rational businessman. Yes and no. You don't necessarily want to play chicken with Steve Jobs' ego. Cupertino is lucky to have Apple -- Cupertino knows it, and Apple knows it. If they start giving him a hard time getting his building approved then he's not going to knock down Infinite Loop, but he could well start entertaining offers from neighbouring cities which would no doubt fall over themselves to get the second Appleplex.
- aresant 15y agoOnly Steve could glue me to the screen for 20 mins to watch a city council meeting. It's like listening to PT Barnum read the J Peterman catalog.
- phillco 15y agoI laughed when he projected the estimated percent increase in trees. I hope this filters into future presentations. "We're here to announce the iPhone 5, but first...we've been really, really happy with the growth of our tree population here at Apple."
- sjwright 15y agoLots of apricot trees... perhaps the odd McIntosh Apple? [1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_%28apple%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_%28apple%29
- latch 15y agoI grew up in Ontario, where McIntosh are king (and deliciously awesome!). I was surprised, when I moved, that a lot of people didn't know that the MacIntosh computer was actually named after this apple (trademark, or something, prevented them from using "McIntosh")
- officemonkey 15y agoIt was probably the trademark for McIntosh amplifiers (http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Pages/Home.aspx http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Pages/Home.aspx).
- rbanffy 15y ago"Macintosh" was also chosen because it's acronym-proof
- tcdent 15y agoStill doesn't stop people from writing MAC instead of Mac; its an abbreviation, not an acronym!
- plainOldText 15y agoWatching this presentation makes me think of how important it is to stick to your values across everything you are doing. The building Steve jobs presented has some of the same design principles found in the recent apple products; roundness, simplicity, clean neutral colors, environmental friendly, etc. I think this gives apple great appeal.
- Luyt 15y agoBut he also calls it 'human scale', while in the pictures the building looks huge: it's a kind of hollow frisbee, pentagon-style. Maybe it's because I'm from a small country, we don't have skyscrapers here ;-)
- shadowsun7 15y agoIt's 4 stories high. Not a skyscraper, by any means. I'd bet the council would be a little touchy if it were any higher than that.
- checker 15y agoYeah, people have houses that are 4 stories high. No big deal here, although I'm not sure how big the houses are out in Cupertino.
- amirrustam 15y agoThat council is so embarrassing.
- whalesalad 15y agoSeriously the questions they asked were just ridiculous.
- thematt 15y agoThat interchange about free Wi-Fi (13:15) was really awkward.
- sylvinus 15y agoand you can see Steve feeling sorry for them when he just looks back to his papers after a stupid question :)
- joelhaasnoot 15y agoI thought the same way. Not only the Wifi but also the question about safety. Is it just me or is there a strict state/federal building code for that kinda thing? And mentioning a cement plant? Apple isn't dumb if they hire top architects that's something they'd have realized. They really acted like clowns if you ask me...
- d5tryr 15y agoThe point is to have someone make a statement, on record, that they take responsibility for the issue.
- joelhaasnoot 15y agoDon't they have to either way?
- encoderer 15y agoI was surprised to see Lloyd as their council president. For a fanboy he did a good job.
- paramaggarwal 15y agoWow, such a beautiful campus.
- sjwright 15y agoWhen I saw the photos, I figured that the building's circumference would be so wide that curved glass would not just be unnecessary, but almost counter-productive, as it's difficult to curve glass without imperfections that might ruin its reflections. Surely we'd be talking about small fractions of a degree per pane. Can anyone estimate what the building circumference is, and therefore what amount of curve would be called for?
- biot 15y agoBased on the presentation and the handy ruler in Google maps, I'd estimate it to be about 400 meters in diameter. So around 1250 meters circumference. The curve is the same as the arc, so with 60 panes of glass about 21 meters long there's a six degree curve per pane.
- RobertWilson66 15y ago2
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- redthrowaway 15y agoJust looking at the proposed plans and comparing to Google Maps, I'd give a rough guestimate of 1100 ft for the building's diameter. So, that's about 3450 ft in circumference. That means a single degree of arc would cover about 960 ft. If each pane of glass were 10x48 and flat (as long as the building is tall), then they would form a 7200-sided polygon, and the angle between them would be 179.95 degrees, or a deflection of 0.05 degrees. So, while they claim a curved window, you wouldn't notice if it was flat. Unless, of course, my math is horribly misguided. Edit: well somebody didn't like that. Anyway, I can't speak for the math, but my source for the diameter guestimate: The building site shown at [1], and the same site on Google maps [2]. Notice the scale in the bottom, showing 1000 ft. The building plan appears slightly larger than that, so that's where I got my estimate. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtuz5OmOh_M&feature=player_embedded#t=293s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtuz5OmOh_M&feature=playe... [2] http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=1+Infinite+Loop,+Cupertino,+Santa+Clara,+California+95014,+United+States&aq=&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=31.426188,79.013672&ie=UTF8&geocode=FcqjOQId1vm5-A&split=0&hq=&hnear=1+Infinite+Loop,+Cupertino,+California+95014,+United+States&ll=37.332972,-122.008882&spn=0.01887,0.038581&t=h&z=15 http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...
- barrkel 15y agoIt reminds me somewhat of the Borland campus. That thing was Japanese inspired, and shaped like a kind of jagged C, but similarly had a large central courtyard, and due to its shape had lots of natural light in the offices.
- thematt 15y agoI find it extremely interesting that they'll be using natural gas as their primary energy source for the campus and using the electrical grid as their backup. Is this really cost effective? Are many businesses doing this?
- nettdata 15y agoIsn't the electrical grid down there a bit undersized, and in need of improvement anyway? I'm in Vancouver, BC, so I don't know for sure, but I keep seeing news stories about rolling blackouts fairly often. If that's the case, then it seems to me that relying on something other than the grid would be a smart move.
- ghshephard 15y agoThe last time we had rolling blackouts was 10 years ago, 2001. They occurred on seven days. Enron played a role. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis for a reasonably good accounting.
- jfb 15y agoThe power goes out a couple of times a summer, at least on the west (?) side of De Anza; the grid down there is very bad, and on more than one occasion, during a product launch or very close to, the transformer under the gas station (!) would blow (!) and we'd all have to pack up and head to campus to camp out in a conference room. Good times. Oh wait, no, the other thing. Bad times.
- joshu 15y agoI wonder if it is that bloom energy system...
- latch 15y agoOne of the benefit you get is that you don't lose ~7% from transmission/distribution. The other is that it burns cleaner than coal (but isn't as clean as Nuclear, or renewable as solar/wind/blah) Beyond that, the cost comes down to availability. There are parts of the world where every single house has a natural gas line for heating (water and air). I've heard that in Japan, small/clean/quiet (relatively) generators are installed in some apartments and provide electricity. This article has some information on natural gas usage in California. It seems like most of it come from out of state (or country): http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/puc/energy/gas/natgasandca.htm http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/puc/energy/gas/natgasandca.htm
- thematt 15y agoI wonder how it is structured inside. 12,000 people still seems like a lot for that building. Does anybody know how Apple employees are typically structured? Is it offices for everybody? Open spaces with collaborative work spaces?
- bstx 15y agoTypically every engineer has his own office, if space is tight some need to double up until new offices become available.
- jacoblyles 15y agoApple style - one monolithic building designed down to the square foot. Google style - a motley assortment of buildings spread out over a large campus, some of which are better than others.
- memoryfault 15y agoI have to ask - what is Microsoft style? Edit: Disclosure, I have been to Microsoft's campus, but I just couldn't help but ask this question. :)
- sriramk 15y agoSame as Google style I guess (though I think Microsoft buildings are quite uniform and almost all look the same)
- memoryfault 15y agoI felt differently when I visited. If anything, they at least show a progression over the general phases of the campus. Buildings 1-9 are very similar, as are the triangle buildings 16-18. A lot of the newer buildings (ie the 'Studios') are almost exactly the same. There are a few other buildings on campus (late 20's or 3*?) that show a similar architecture to the studios. But then, there is 'Red West' which is its own little mini campus in terms of design. The reason I asked was because I wanted to see Microsoft categorized in such an easy and quick manner as Google/Apple. I must admit that I myself can't do that.
- davepeck 15y agoMicrosoft's Redmond campus is pleasant, collegial, and consists of nondescript corporate buildings of varying design connected by wooded pathways and large lawns. Actually a really nice place to work. The campus has grown so much, however, that it has sprawled over several wide/ugly/pedestrian-unfriendly suburban roads in the process; there is substantially less greenery today than even a few years ago.
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- Todd 15y agoI, too, found myself watching the proceedings for longer than I should have. The design is elegant and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Ironically, the most amazing thing about the video is seeing a modern icon in such a quotidian scenario.
- guelo 15y agoI don't know, I worked in a campus with a huge courtyard in the middle, though smaller than this, and it was mostly wasted unused space. I think it actually makes different parts of the company feel more isolated from each other because the other side of the building is so far way, the middle almost feels like an intimidating wilderness that you stay away from. If instead you have multiple smaller buildings connected by meandering paths it gives a campus a friendlier feeling.
- sjwright 15y agoI suspect the middle courtyard will have a lot of features not shown in the design, including meandering pathways, benches and lawns for laptop jockeys, full wifi coverage, and maybe even an outdoor cafe (or two, or three). It's the job of a landscape architect to create an environment that is both inviting for those walking outside, and serene for those looking out the window. Somehow I doubt they'll screw it up. (Even if they did, it's comparatively cheap to fix compared to bad architecture.) With so many employees, I suspect it will be very well utilised, particularly on warm sunny days.
- sylvinus 15y agoI second this, don't forget Jobs' experience with "creative" spaces like the offices of Pixar.
- checker 15y agoIt reminds me of the Pentagon, which has the same sort of stuff along with food vendors. It was pretty busy at lunch time and seemed to be a popular place to have a walk and talk meeting.
- lukestevens 15y agoSimply utopian.
- thingie 15y agoI work in a small office park located quite similarly on a grassy field locked entirely by some freeways and other large roads, though the buildings here are cheap and ugly, but even if they weren't, it'd still totally suck. It's isolated, not a part of the city, essentially, it's just a large parking lot (most of which is below the ground, but that doesn't really change anything). It's quite disappointing. Maybe it's a marvel of architecture, but indeed it's a failure of urbanism (which, I believe, is much more important). It's 2011 and we're still building things while thinking in predefined square lots separated by roads? Such a shame.
- bonzoesc 15y agoIsolation and centralization is useful for the corporation; they have more control over physical security, can manage it so employees tend to interact only with other employees, and it costs a lot less to have space for 12,000 employees off the interstate than to have them downtown (if Silicon Valley towns even have "downtowns;" I know far-flung Miami exurbs usually don't.)
- enf 15y agoPalo Alto and Mountain View have real places; the rest is pretty much all miserable sprawl. I miss working in downtown Palo Alto.
- bonzoesc 15y agoThat's sad to hear. I really love living in a Place.
- r00fus 15y agoCupertino "downtown" is a joke (I used to work there)... it's basically the intersection of two large streets (Stevens Creek at De Anza). Likewise Sunnyvale and Santa Clara are quite anemic, but Los Gatos, Saratoga and even Los Altos aren't bad. MV and PA are great places to dine. Cupertino is the only town I've worked in that never had a downtown.
- bgarbiak 15y agoThe project looks like a literal approach to the walled garden idea.
- billybob 15y agoYour comment wins for entertainment value. :)
- daimyoyo 15y agoI understand that Apple is a very important company to Cupertino, but I've never need a city counsel so lovestruck at a meeting. They should just give him a rubber stamp for whatever he wants to do.
- vladd 15y agoAu contraire, Steve had his share of nasty events dealing with bureaucracy, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackling_House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackling_House .
- 6ren 15y agoI thought the question about traffic was good - there will be congestion, with so many people gather in one place. I'm surprised that Jobs attended - the project must be very important to him personally, and he didn't want the slightest risk of it being derailed.
- pedrokost 15y agoYou are wrong. Previously the place was used by HW, with some 9k employes. There will only be a 3k increase in number of workers, which as jobs said is about 20% more people. Sure, 20% is noticeable, but one should analyse the roads and connections to the campus to know how noticeable will those 20% more traffic be.
- 6ren 15y ago
- tudorizer 15y agoIs it bigger than the Pentagon?
- rflrob 15y agoIt's close, depending on what you mean by size. Looking at the Pentagon diagram on wikipedia and using the above estimates of 1100-1200 feet for the Mothership, it's about comparable in diameter. I'm fairly sure the Pentagon rings are thicker, though, so that probably contributes to it's ability to house 26k (employees + support personnel) instead of Apple's 12-3k.
- vaporstun 15y agoThe Pentagon also has more height, with 4 stories above ground and at least 2 below. Don't know if Apple plans on having stories below ground, there was no mention during the presentation, but not doing so would account for more of the difference.
- bonzoesc 15y agoApple plans to hide parking underground instead of leaving vast expanses of asphalt above ground like The Pentagon: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qgbkxj8kbvq8&lvl=17&dir=0&sty=b&where1=Pentagon%20City%2C%20VA&q=pentagon&form=LMLTCC http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qgbkxj8kbvq8&lvl=17...
- _djo_ 15y agoThere will be an underground parking garage.
- cubicle67 15y agofor some reason it reminds me of a Panopticon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon
- Steko 15y agoJust for perspective: Proposed Appleplex: 1.4 mil sq ft (?), 12-13k employees Pentagon: 6.5 mil sq ft (3.7 mil for offices), 26k employees Empire State Building: 2.8 mil sq ft, 21k (?) employees
- hugh3 15y agoNow I'm curious -- what's in the other 2.8 million square feet of the Pentagon?
- icey 15y agoHallways, conference rooms, shops (there is a small mall in the Pentagon), more hallways, bunkers, monuments / military museums, and a bunch of other general use areas.
- brudgers 15y agoIt's important to keep in mind that when the Pentagon was built, a computer was a person who did calculations and documents were sent to the secretarial pool to be typed; so the number and roles of its occupants were quite different. The space has been re-purposed over the past 70 years.
- icey 15y agoIt's a very interesting building. You can tell that it was made with a focus on people walking from place to place. I think there are tours open to the public (but require a reservation). I'm pretty sure it's the only tour in the U.S. that features a Marine walking backwards for over a mile. I think there are over 15 miles of hallways in the Pentagon. There are 5 levels with 5 rings each, so you can imagine that's a lot of places to walk. One of the things that isn't so nice now is the anti-radiation film that got placed on the windows after 9/11. The film is bright yellow, so everything that sunlight touches has kind of a gross pee colored tinge to it.
- sambeau 15y agoIn part, too many restrooms. They have twice as many as they need as they original built segregated rooms for blacks and whites. http://www.snopes.com/military/pentagonbathrooms.asp http://www.snopes.com/military/pentagonbathrooms.asp
- barrkel 15y agoThis isn't the first time he's presented to the council, I remember a previous show he put on that was also on YouTube, over 5 years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meVQqYNGzYA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meVQqYNGzYA
- goatforce5 15y agoI've heard that he's been known to sit and watch council meetings when they've been discussing issues relevant to Apple... Just to remind them to keep Apple's interests in mind.
- kabdib 15y agoA bit of Silly Valley lore: Go graph "Company builds a new campus" against "Company stock falls like a rock." Atari, 1983. Apple, 1991. Sun (both times, I forget the years). SGI, 1990s. Various other companies (I forget which, it's been a while). It's like the hubris builds up to the point where the company is in a natural position to say, "Hey, we need a new campus," and the Gods decide that a little humiliation is in order as well . . .
- enra 15y agoSteve Blank has wrote about "Curse of a new building" http://steveblank.com/2009/05/15/supermac-war-story-11-the-curse-of-a-new-building/ http://steveblank.com/2009/05/15/supermac-war-story-11-the-c...
- lurker19 15y agoIs Seattle different? Amazon 2011? Does Microsoft's 20-year-long campus expansion count?
- YooLi 15y agoWhat about all the other companies that built new campuses and their stock didn't fall?
- Apple-Guy 15y agoExactly. Google's new campus: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18081606?nclick_check=1 http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18081606?nclick_check=1
- ajross 15y agoThe causation goes the other way around though. Companies with precipitous stock drops are virtually always ones that had rapid growth leading up to the fall. Companies experiencing rapid growth generally need more space, and are more likely to "build a new campus" as a way to get that space.
- johnrob 15y agoAlso: Borland, mid-1990s.
- trout 15y agoDoes anyone else get a creepy Dubai vibe reading this? Some of the statements like 'there will be no straight glass' beg the question - is it really worth it?
- jaysonelliot 15y agoYou mean it "raises the question." Begging the question means something completely different: http://begthequestion.info/ http://begthequestion.info/
- bretthopper 15y agoThis isn't impressive to me. What would be impressive would be building a skyscraper in downtown SF. Being environmentally friendly isn't building a massive campus on a plot of suburban grassland. Apple likes to say they think differently, but this isn't different. It's just slightly nicer than most other headquarters in a suburban wasteland.
- cosgroveb 15y agoI don't think it would make financial sense for Apple to move to SF.
- tptacek 15y agoIn any other city I think this would be a more valid point. But San Francisco is tiny. A lot of people really don't grok just how geographically small the place is. An Apple move to downtown SF would be incredibly disruptive, would generate epic amounts of traffic on already extremely congested roads, would doubtless increase pollution and energy expense, and price thousands of families out of SF neighborhoods as wealthy Apple employees relocated. I also think it's a bit unfair to judge the new Apple campus on a scale of "worldwide innovations in green facilities". Apple has done what seems to be a very good job of greening up their existing Cupertino presence, and they are probably going to end up spending a large amount of money on an effective model for how to deploy a modern green-er corporate campus. I don't think we need to ding them for not absolutely revolutionizing the integration of corporate office space with environments. This is a Cupertino City Council meeting, not a presentation at the UN.
- bretthopper 15y agoIt sounds like you're treating an Apple building downtown differently than any other skyscraper. It's still just a big tower filled with people. Are you saying that SF is literally bursting at the seams and that it can't support another big office tower? What about the giant Transbay development plan? If you're going to stuff 12,000+ people anywhere, it's better to do it in an already dense area to take advantage of efficiencies. Green Metropolis is an interesting read about big cities and sustainability: http://www.amazon.com/Green-Metropolis-Smaller-Driving-Sustainability/dp/1594488827 http://www.amazon.com/Green-Metropolis-Smaller-Driving-Susta...
- kmt 15y agoI bet that Jobs has had a dream about this building for a while. Finally, he gets to do it.
- impendia 15y agoThere are still orchards in Cupertino?! Not for economic reasons. Modest houses on modest lots sell in the seven figures there. Whoever owns the land could make huge money by selling to developers, but presumably the city council has made it clear that they won't approve a zoning change. Apparently, the people there already really want there to still be orchards in Cupertino, if only as a memory of what was. Sounds like Steve Jobs wowed the city council, but after paying some attention to SV local politics, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the community rallied against this.
- goatforce5 15y agoHe did point out a couple of times that they're the largest tax payer in Cupertino and while they wanted to stay, they've go a couple of miles up the road to the next city if they needed to. Also note the councillors asked when they'd be breaking ground so they could start taxing them on it. Apple wouldn't have to look hard to get big incentives to hop over the city boundary, and they'll keep reminding the council that they have options. I imagine a large percentage of Cupertino residents are Apple employees or otherwise directly benefit from Apple being there. I'd think that the majority of the community would be completely happy for the biggest local company to spend a lot of money in their city, and to convert a big chunk of asphalt back in to green space.
- impendia 15y agoPossibly so. I should add that I'm not saying Cupertino should prevent Apple from building. I lived in Menlo Park for a year before moving to SF, and was struck by how anti-development the Menlo Park and Palo Alto governments (and ordinary citizens) were. Perhaps Cupertino is different. And, this proposal is pretty damn cool. Underground parking? That's fabulous.
- cpeterso 15y agoNeither SF residents nor the city council are known for their pro-development attitude. Beyond NIMBY is BANANA: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.
- noonespecial 15y agoI'd have a back up plan for a second nearby city so that once the town councils bike-shedding begins, Steve can just shrug and say "Gee it would have been nice to build it here but..."
- simonw 15y agoHe kind of did that with his mention of Mountain View.
- quickpost 15y agoI wonder what the radius of that building will be.
- bluegene 15y agoIs it just me who shuddered every time when council leaders asked those completely off-topic idiotic questions? Free wifi, really?
- Someone 15y agoQuite daring, to plan such a building. Who knows whether they will need the space, four years from now? With multiple buildings, it is easier to make corrections during construction or even afterwards. Also, it will be a challenge to make that underground garage look as beautiful as the building. That is what most visitors will initially see from the building. Finally, will this be a real click wheel or a modern version without moving parts? :-)
- Steko 15y ago"Who knows whether they will need the space, four years from now?" I think Steve and Tim know they'll need it. I think the interesting thing is not whether they'll need it, it's not like Apple is in any danger of collapsing, but that it shows they don't anticipate needing more. This fits with what we know about Apple wanting to stay lean and mean but it also makes those plans concrete (lol?).
- sambeau 15y agoWhat a lesser mind would come up with given a similar breif: "Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Cheltenham, United Kingdom" http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/gchq/gchq1.html http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/gchq/gchq1.html
- 46Bit 15y agoExactly what I thought when I saw it.
- spitfire 15y agoReminds me a bit of IBM's TJ Watson center in NY. Very cool, very futuristic. That is a place I'd like to be. Importantly, they've said they have a few thousand people at 1IL currently and they're consolidating everyone together. That should benefit the communication and innovation having everyone under one roof able to get together and chat. In short, I love it. More companies should be so bold.
- kadavy 15y agoHe seems so tired. Get well Steve. Beautiful building!
- Anti-Ratfish 15y agoTo quote our IT manager "So its an actual walled garden?"
- spitfire 15y agoWhat other companies have built beautiful office spaces like this? I count IBM and Epic systems. I hear sas has a great campus as well.
- teyc 15y agoIn the "Man Who Fell to the Earth", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_(film.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_(film.... the lead character is an extra terrestrial posing as a man, made a lot of money by being a technologist selling amazing "inventions" from his planet, and has a luxury apartment which turns out to be a spaceship, which is meant to cart water back to his planet, which has run out due to its use in power generation. Maybe Jobs is planning bring natural gas back to his planet?
- mahyarm 15y agoI'm surprised it's only 4 stories. I would of added 3 more stories and added capacity for several more thousand employees. I can easily see them out growing the space very quickly in the next 20 years and possibly building two other circles in the empty spaces beside the circle.
- mbateman 15y agoDidn't he explicitly say it was an aesthetic decision? He wants it "human scale" or something like that.
- mahyarm 15y agoWell it's either that, and having a high likelihood of spreading the company around 30 crappy buildings all around Cupertino again, or using the large fields as building spaces for new circles.
- hillbilly 15y agoMassive corporate office buildings seem so antiquated to me. Don't people work remotely nowadays? Even when I am on-site I prefer to hold meetings over web share and phone conferences. Meetings you have to walk to never start on time. What a waste.
- bfung 15y agoin the LA Times article about the same topic, Steve Wozniak also added his own bits on the land purchased. Scroll down to the Comments section (it's via facebook). http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/06/apple-spaceship-campus-site-special-to-steve-jobs-because-of-hp-connection.html http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/06/apple-spa...
- xxpor 15y agoWhat is the advantage to Apple to build in an incorporated city? I understand the need for infrastructure, but what does a tech co like Apple need other than electricity + water + gas? Wouldn't there be less regulation and taxes if they moved to unincorporated territory?
- minikomi 15y agoWow.. reminds me of the kindergarten I used to work at (at a massive scale!) http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2009/07/fuji-kindergarten/ http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2009/07/fuji-kindergarten...
- seriocomic 15y agoSo what would be the new address? Does it mean giving up "1 Infinite Loop"? Any guesses at a replacement?