New Model Offers Detailed Look at Apple's Upcoming 'Spaceship' Campus [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Apple's proposed Apple Campus 2, now in the final planning stages, can be seen in detail in new model photos provided by San Jose Mercury News. The 4-story circular building, which Steve Jobs famously described as "like a spaceship," encompasses more than 2.8 million square feet and is designed to house upwards of 12,000 employees.

Image courtesy of San Jose Mercury News​

As seen in the model, the campus includes the main spaceship building with curved glass windows and polished concrete ceilings, several auxiliary buildings, a massive parking structure topped with solar panels, an underground parking lot, and a huge number of trees. In addition to the main working area, the plans include an auditorium for events, a fitness center, and additional space for research and development. Apple's Chief Financial Officer, Peter Oppenheimer, was on hand to give some details about the campus.

"You see the energy and the love and the attention to detail that we've put into this," he told this newspaper during a sneak-peek of a top-secret, living-room sized model of the building. "We have treated this project just as we would any Apple product. And this will be a place for the most creative and collaborative teams in the industry to innovate for decades to come."

"The concept of the building," said Oppenheimer, "is collaboration and fluidity. It'll provide a very open-spaced system, so that at one point in the day you may be in offices on one side of the circle and find yourself on the other side later that day."

Though only the main buildings will be constructed during the first phase of the project, Apple has plans to add additional buildings to house extra employees at some point in the future.

Following an early October approval from the Cupertino Planning Commission, the campus is still subject to a vote from the Cupertino city council on October 15 and a final vote on November 19. If all parties involved approve the construction, Apple will remain on track for a 2016 debut of the new structure. A full gallery of the model can be seen on the Mercury News site.

Update: As noted by TechCrunch, Apple has begun sending out brochures asking residents of Cupertino to support the new Apple campus by emailing the Cupertino city council and attending the October 15 vote. The company says that it intends to break ground shortly after the campus is approved.

Update 2: The City of Cupertino has posted a nearly three-hour video (via MacGeneration) of the October 1 session discussing Apple's Environmental Impact report on the new campus project. The session includes a presentation by Apple Senior Director of Real Estate and Facilities Dan Whisenhunt, with a brief overview video beginning at the 8:15 mark in the session video.

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Article Link: New Model Offers Detailed Look at Apple's Upcoming 'Spaceship' Campus [Updated]

 

[definitive]

looks cool, but "spaceship"? this is a "spaceship":

 

[pscl]

if armageddon is coming, they will just lift off with it to save all the mac-heads and to found a new society on an other planet

 

[teknikal90]

it'd be cool if they had a loop-tube system of some sort that runs to take people quickly from one side of the circle to another.

 

[Compile 'em all]

That model alone must have cost a couple of thousand dollars to make!

 

[Krazy Bill]

Apple: Put your hammers down. Get over to Foxconn and help build the new MacBook Pros already.

 

[gugy]

very cool.
This thing done should look amazing. Great tribute to Steve's vision and taste.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Agree!

It looks like a power button waiting to be pressed.

This is a spaceship done right:

 

[Renzatic]

I bet when no one's looking, Tim Cook breaks out his collection of action figures and has an absolute blast...

 

[mdridwan]

High quality pictures... ? Must be fake.

 

[mdelvecchio]

it'd be cool if they had a loop-tube system of some sort that runs to take people quickly from one side of the circle to another.

that isnt what Jobs was going for. he wants people to have to walk, bump into each other, collaborate, etc..

most of us are too lazy/fat anyway and could use the exercise.

 

[dumastudetto]

Really really incredible. Only Apple could do something like this.

 

[BvizioN]

looks cool, but "spaceship"? this is a "spaceship":

Image

That's a rocket!

And this is spaceship!

 

[Renzatic]

That's a rocket!

Of course it's a rocket! How do you expect the spaceship to get to space?

 

[BvizioN]

Of course it's a rocket! How do you expect the spaceship to get to space?

Spaceship is more then a rocket! It's supposed to travel across galaxies. They usually get build in space

 

[barkomatic]

I think I once read that as soon as a tech company builds a fancy new headquarters building for itself that its days of prosperity are numbered. I hope that's not true here.

 

[DisMyMac]

They should build simulated garages inside, since that's where all of their ideas came from supposedly.

 

[Rogifan]

Really really incredible. Only Norman Foster could do something like this.

Fixed it for you.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

They should put Rhinos and Giraffes and whatnot in the middle.
If you're going to be ostentatious, do it 100%.


I do wonder how long it'll take them to start building inward into that open space though. Need additional space, put another inner ring in. 10 years down the road, it might be time for a new MFG wing, right in the middle... underground...

 

[Dr McKay]

looks cool, but "spaceship"? this is a "spaceship":

Image

I don't know. I can see the resemblance between the 2nd photo and this.

 

[Renzatic]

Spaceship is more then a rocket! It's supposed to travel across galaxies. They usually get build in space

So how do they get the people into space to build the spaceships, huh?

...that's right. Rockets. They make the world of space go round.

I don't know. I can see the resemblance between the 2nd photo and this.

That's not a spaceship. That's a Mothership.

You know, I expect you people to know this stuff...

 

[JCox]

It looks very similar to the fingerprint recognition home button on the 5s.
So if God pushed it... ?

 

[kemal]

Looks like a big'ol Conrad bearing.

 

[nStyle]

I still don't see how any of this is beneficial from a shareholder perspective.

 

[firewood]

traffic problems?

Looks like an airport-sized parking garage. I can just see the traffic jams on the approach roads during morning commute hours.

One of my commute routes goes right by that old HP site. I'll have to find an alternative if I want to avoid even more traffic.