The latest news and interesting facts on the apple spaceship.

NEW DRONE VIDEO

I never get tired of drone footage for the Apple spaceship construction. Here is some new footage. Can you feel the hype?

November 2016 update on Apple Spaceship progress.  

 

August 2016 update on Apple Spaceship. Compare it to Junes video.  

The latest look at the Apple Spaceship in June 2016 from Matthew Roberts. The ship is really starting to shape up, but it still feels  a long way from being completed. This complex is just beyond belief.

Newest drone video by Ducan Sinfield

The up and coming Apple Spaceship has to be the most intriguing piece of corporate architecture. I’m totally enthralled with every piece of news and drone video of the compound. It speaks not only to Apples success, but to the limits of which architecture and design can excel. I have to believe that this structure will qualify as one of the innovative wonders in the world. Tim Cook has elegantly picked up where Steve Jobs left off and is creating an environment for generations to come.

“It will be a center for innovation for generations to come,” Cook said. “We think it’s so important to have a place that inspires you.”

How big is Apple’s new campus?

• The new Apple Campus will be set in a 2.8 million-square-foot area.
• That’s a 176-acre site.
• It will house more than 13,000 Apple employees in one building.
• The building is more than a mile around.
• There will be 300,000 square feet of research facilities and underground parking.
• It is expected to be complete in late 2016
• In May 2014, Apple leased 290,000 square feet of new office space in Sunnyvale known as Sunnyvale Crossing. It is thought that this additional space comprises seven buildings and will provide room for around 1,450 workers. It is located near to the new ‘Spaceship’ campus as well as the current ‘Infinite Loop’ campus.
• Despite aiming to be self-sufficient and earth-friendly, the range of materials used in the construction will without a doubt be the top of the line. “As with Apple’s products, Jobs wanted no seam, gap or paintbrush stroke showing; every wall, floor and even ceiling is to be polished to a supernatural smoothness. All of the interior wood was to be harvested from a specific species of maple, and only finer quality ‘heartwood’ at the centre of the trees would be used,” an insider told Business Week.
• As a consequence of the large size of the building, the sections have been broken up with cafes, lobbies and entrances.
• A significant segment of the building is the restaurant, which opens up to the landscape.
• The car park is buried below the landscape so there are no rows of parked cars to spoil the view

Renderings of the dream

Latest Footage – From a drones view

How much input did Steve Jobs have in the new campus?

• According to Norman Foster, Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs requested that he be considered a part of the team rather than the client.
• Jobs wanted the new campus to reflect the Californian landscapes from his childhood, Foster claims in the video.
• Apple’s ‘senior arborist’, David Muffly, reveals in the video that part of Apple’s plan was to bring California back to Cupertino.
• Steve Jobs was inspired by a large space known as the Main Quad on the Stanford campus.

How environmentally friendly will the new Apple campus be?

• The new Apple Campus will aim at being self-sufficient. Most of the power for the facilities will come from an “on-site low carbon Central Plant”, according to an Apple Insider report.  Apple intends to use alternative energy sources to power the campus, as part of its pledge to use 100 percent renewable energy at its facilities.
• After revisions to the original plan, Apple showed that will be able to complete the project without having to remove any dirt from the area.
• The structure will be outfitted with solar panels around the top of the building. It will run mostly off the Cupertino power grid but will use it as a backup electrical supply.
• 7,000 trees will surround the campus. Apple has hired a leading arborist from Stanford University to help landscape the area and restore some of the indigenous plant life, including apricot orchards.
• All landscaping is intended to make the area look very park-like. It will include jogging paths and walking trails around the building.
• The former HP campus on which Apple’s Campus 2 is being built was covered in buildings, concrete parking lots and non-indigenous decorative trees ill-suited to the specific Pacific climate. The strongest of the trees will be replanted and augmented with sturdy species that will flourish to create large open expanses of greenery.
• Apple VP of Environmental Initiatives Lisa Jackson reiterates that 80 percent of the site will be so-called “green space”, while the main building will go without air conditioning or heating for 75 percent of the year thanks to natural ventilation. Further, 100 percent of the campus’ energy will be sourced from renewable assets like solar power and bio fuels

How much will the new Apple campus cost?

• The budget for the new spaceship-like headquarters has ballooned from less than $3 billion in 2011 to almost $5 billion.
• Not everyone is happy. It has been reported that angry shareholders have attacked the $5 billion project, labeling it wildly extravagant.
• According to Bloomberg, although $1 billion is less than 1 percent of Apple’s cash reserves, shareholders have complained that too much is being spent on this vast project while nothing is being handed back to stockholders.

What facilities will there be at the new Apple campus?

• The main building will include a wellness centre. This $75 million fitness centre will probably cater for the needs of the entire Apple community in Silicon Valley, which is around 20,000 people.
• The headquarters will be fitted with a new 1000-seat underground auditorium which will allow Apple to have presentations in the same building, instead of having to go to San Francisco every time.
• The new underground parking facilities will increase the number of spaces from 10,500 to 14,200.
• Due to its underground location, this will triple the amount of landscaped area in the campus.
• 1,000 bikes will be kept on the site and available to staff to get around the campus

Whats next?

According to a report from the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple is in the process of securing a development agreement for a plot of land in San Jose that could hold a campus of up to 4.15 million square feet. By comparison, the Apple Campus 2 (the one with the ring-like spaceship design) takes up 2.8 million square feet of space, which is itself 230 percent bigger than the company’s current headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop. Essentially, this new development in San Jose could be absolutely massive.

Alt. Drone View