Amid Apple Campus 2 Cost Concerns, Foster + Partners Reportedly Taking on Apple Retail Store Projects

MacRumors · Apr 10, 2013

Less than a week after a report from Bloomberg Businessweek outlined how Steve Jobs' strict requirements for "fit and finish" at the company's upcoming Norman Foster-designed Apple Campus 2 in Cupertino have seen the cost of the massive project balloon to $5 billion, Marketing reports [via Pocket-lint] that Foster's firm has been tapped to work on retail store projects for Apple.

Sources close to the project said Foster + Partners, which has designed buildings including the McLaren Technology Centre and Hearst Tower in New York, is helping Apple on the retail store design brief. [...]

A Foster + Partners spokeswoman said: "Any project for Apple is confidential and therefore we are unable to comment."

Apple has long worked with design firm 8 Inc on its retail stores, dating back to store-within-a-store concepts that preceded Apple's own retail locations. The retail partnership between 8 Inc and Apple built upon a previous arrangement that saw 8 Inc assisting with the design of Apple's displays at Macworld trade shows.

While 8 Inc has long served as Apple's design partner for the company's retail stores, architectural expertise for many of Apple's high-profile locations has been provided by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

It currently remains unclear how extensive the relationship between Apple and Foster + Partners will be for retail stores, including whether 8 Inc and/or Bohlin Cywinski Jackson are being entirely replaced.

Article Link: Amid Apple Campus 2 Cost Concerns, Foster + Partners Reportedly Taking on Apple Retail Store Projects

bandalay · Apr 10, 2013

Um

How does creating enormous cost overruns (and believe me it's Foster) equate with giving them more responsibility?

Mr.damien · Apr 10, 2013

Which cost overrun ?

Apple just stop giving money to shareholders (that screw them anyway) and the problem is gone.

Born Again · Apr 10, 2013

again before all these people who chime in about costs - if you don't understand the construction industry you will look foolish.

Rogifan · Apr 10, 2013

Wow talk about MR have no news or rumors to report. How in the heck does this warrant a front page story?

nikhsub1 · Apr 10, 2013

Don't people realize that space ships cost a lot of money?

Intarweb · Apr 10, 2013

This is as confusing of a story as I've seen in a while. The project is going to cost more and take up more resources so Apple is giving the company more responsibility? Something doesn't compute.

xnu · Apr 10, 2013

Little factoid... Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed Bill gates home. And yes the work was done on a Mac.

Tankmaze · Apr 10, 2013

Intarweb said:
This is as confusing of a story as I've seen in a while. The project is going to cost more and take up more resources so Apple is giving the company more responsibility? Something doesn't compute.

Yeah I second this.

the project is over budget, and now they are working on the retail project. so the "over budget" is good so apple gave them other project to work on.

bandalay · Apr 10, 2013

Radio said:
again before all these people who chime in about costs - if you don't understand the construction industry you will look foolish.

Do tell oh wise one.

charlituna · Apr 10, 2013

bandalay said:
How does creating enormous cost overruns (and believe me it's Foster) equate with giving them more responsibility?

We don't really know that there are overruns in a truly negative sense (they have have budgeted for this level of cost so they in effect haven't 'overrun') or that the issue came from Foster. Sounds more is it was Steve's demands for certain items which they are contrarily locked into at this point that is really causing the problems

And who knows what changes Foster will be making or even have the power to make. The core design might be staying the same but they are just giving a chance to show how they would adapt that design into certain types of spaces.

----------

Intarweb said:
This is as confusing of a story as I've seen in a while. The project is going to cost more and take up more resources so Apple is giving the company more responsibility? Something doesn't compute.

This may be something that was there all along but we are just now hearing about it. So in effect they aren't being given anything AFTER but had it all along.

hspace · Apr 10, 2013

I'm glad Apple is concentrating on the *important* things - like a spaceship HQ building.

Product innovation or iOS refresh? Nah. Who needs it. Just tweak the iPhone 4 design slightly and keep it iOS as a grid of fixed icons.

flottenheimer · Apr 10, 2013

Ballooning budgets are not rare in the building/construction industry. As an example phase one of the Copenhagen Metro was projected and budgeted at DKK 4,5 billion. It ended up costing DKK 15 billion.

More on topic:
Foster + Parters now also working on Apple Retail is Exciting. I'm a true fan of their work, their thinking and their style. And I find that Apple stores are beginning to look a little too samey.
Respecting the style of Apple Retail it would be nice to, once in a while, discover stores that offered a little extra out of the 'ordinary'*.
Fosters role in relation to Apple Retail could be something completely different, though. Anyway, I'm looking forward to experience whatever the partnership delivers.

* recognizing that Apple Retail is no where ordinary as such.

PS: The roof of the spaceship renderings wasn't that dark (black) to begin with. Was it?

onirocdarb · Apr 10, 2013

This would be a cool place to retire

playspeed · Apr 10, 2013

So, thats how the warp portal (probably to another dimension) is going to be succeeded. The final design of a mad genius is coming. Some researchers assume that the portal was the whole purpose why Jobs started the company.

MagnusVonMagnum · Apr 10, 2013

This building design is so inefficient it's RIDICULOUS (i.e. loads of extra walking due solely to the shape of the building). Throw in the cost of the building and it shows exactly how far off the map Steve Jobs could be at times and how even further off the map Tim Cook must be to even CONSIDER actually making this building in this shape. It would be a total waste of Apple's resources.

Judas1 · Apr 10, 2013

I've said it before, and I'll say t again. The design of that campus is ridiculously wasteful. All curves, a huge surface area with not much space wasting construction materials. I mean, does it have to look like a saucer?
edit: Magnus, just saw your post. Guess we had the same thought.

santaliqueur · Apr 10, 2013

hspace said:
I'm glad Apple is concentrating on the *important* things - like a spaceship HQ building.

Product innovation or iOS refresh? Nah. Who needs it. Just tweak the iPhone 4 design slightly and keep it iOS as a grid of fixed icons.

I know, it sucks that it's impossible for Apple to do more than 1 task at a time!

bbeagle · Apr 10, 2013

MagnusVonMagnum said:
This building design is so inefficient it's RIDICULOUS (i.e. loads of extra walking due solely to the shape of the building).

How so?

A circle DECREASES walking time vs. a rectangular building.

In a rectangular building, you have to walk the entire distance of the building to go from the left to the right. In a circular building, you would walk out to the courtyard in the center and go to the side of the building you desired - 'short cutting' the walk around the circle.

Think about this - what is closer - 10 houses all along one side of a street, or 10 houses circling around a cul-de-sac?

Judas1 · Apr 10, 2013

bbeagle said:
How so?

A circle DECREASES walking time vs. a rectangular building.

In a rectangular building, you have to walk the entire distance of the building to go from the left to the right. In a circular building, you would walk out to the courtyard in the center and go to the side of the building you desired - 'short cutting' the walk around the circle.

Think about this - what is closer - 10 houses all along one side of a street, or 10 houses circling around a cul-de-sac?

That is an unnecessarily large circle because there's a park right in the middle. And I assume there are only a few doors leading into the park, so that its not meant to be part of the path you can use to get around. Why do they need a park in the center, when the whole campus is surrounded by trees?

Intarweb · Apr 10, 2013

bbeagle said:
How so?

A circle DECREASES walking time vs. a rectangular building.

In a rectangular building, you have to walk the entire distance of the building to go from the left to the right. In a circular building, you would walk out to the courtyard in the center and go to the side of the building you desired - 'short cutting' the walk around the circle.

Think about this - what is closer - 10 houses all along one side of a street, or 10 houses circling around a cul-de-sac?

Why can't said through passes in center be implemented into a square building?

Your analogy shows much structural weakness.

animefx · Apr 10, 2013

Why do you need anything at all? If they want a park the only other options are to put it behind the building, in front of the building, or on the sides... If they did that then the park would be LESS accessable to SOME part of the building. However, because the building is circular then the park is EQUALLY accessable by being in the center. It's actually quite brilliant.

Judas1 said:
That is an unnecessarily large circle because there's a park right in the middle. And I assume there are only a few doors leading into the park, so that its not meant to be part of the path you can use to get around. Why do the need a park in the center, when the whole campus is surrounded by trees?

bbeagle · Apr 10, 2013

Intarweb said:
Why can't said through passes in center be implemented into a square building?

Your analogy shows much structural weakness.

Huh? What you says makes no sense.

You've got 10 houses along one side of a street, much like a long rectangular building. How do you create a 'short cut' from House 1 to House 10? You can't!

If you had 10 houses around a cul-de-sac (circle), EVERY house can be gotten to the other house by simply going through the middle. A LOT closer.

Judas1 · Apr 10, 2013

animefx said:
Why do you need anything at all? If they want a park the only other options are to put it behind the building, in front of the building, or on the sides... If they did that then the park would be LESS accessable to SOME part of the building. However, because the building is circular then the park is EQUALLY accessable by being in the center. It's actually quite brilliant.

It makes the design incredibly wasteful. Just so you can look at trees, when there's plenty of trees all around. Makes no sense. If they want plants, they can do an indoor atrium or something.

bbeagle · Apr 10, 2013

Judas1 said:
That is an unnecessarily large circle because there's a park right in the middle. And I assume there are only a few doors leading into the park, so that its not meant to be part of the path you can use to get around. Why do they need a park in the center, when the whole campus is surrounded by trees?

According to the blueprints, there are 9 entrances/exits around the middle of the circle.

People like windows. People like trees and nature. This design allows everyone to look out the window and see the park in the middle.

Amid Apple Campus 2 Cost Concerns, Foster + Partners Reportedly Taking on Apple Retail Store Projects

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