Apple Campus 2 Nearing End of Construction as 'Major Landscape Changes' Take Place

[MacRumors]

In the newest collection of drone videos capturing the ongoing construction of Apple's upcoming spaceship campus in Cupertino, California, noticeable progress has been made in the month since the last update, mainly in the surge of landscaping additions to the grounds. Apple has been working on the construction at its second campus for over two years, and was just completing the nearby parking structures and making headway into the main building one year ago.

Today, the end of the project is finally in sight, as important structural parts of the constructrion finish up and more focus is placed on additive elements, including solar panels. In Matthew Roberts' drone video, solar panel installation is estimated to be 50 percent complete, and "major landscape changes" have been seen on the site, with large trees sprouting up everywhere around the campus.

On the inside of the ring-shaped building, the garden, pond, and outdoor dining areas are being prepped for their final stages of construction. In the last few updates, the large water feature at the center of Apple Campus 2 received a lot of focus from workers, gaining an outline, large boulders, and its foundation over the last few months. This central area is also expected to include a few jogging and cycling trails, which are just a few amenities for employees coming to the campus, also including basketball and tennis courts.

In a second video, shared by Duncan Sinfield, it's mentioned that the Cupertino City Council have approved of the partial demolition of the nextdoor apartment complex, called The Hamptons. Apple wanted to buy all 342 units at The Hamptons to own the entire property, but negotiations ultimately failed to go through. Now, it's expected for the company to renovate the portion it does own and create "nearly 3x as many units" in the area.

Construction on Apple Campus 2 is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, with employees moving in towards the beginning of 2017. The campus will continue to be touched up as Apple employees get settled in, however, as landscaping projects are expected to be continued through at least the middle of next year.

Article Link: Apple Campus 2 Nearing End of Construction as 'Major Landscape Changes' Take Place

 

[levitynyc]

Ahh so that's why they jacked up the prices of the 13" Pro.

Gotta pay for the mother station without using some of that untaxed cash surplus.

 

[0008652]

[delete]

 

[DTphonehome]

I heard the new design is much slimmer. Too thin to get any work done in there, but who cares about that right?

Also, don't bother pushing the doorbell, it doesn't chime.

 

[Mr Fusion]

I wish my employer built me a spaceship and matching gym / parking garage to work in...

This'll be one very cool place to work.

 

[9081094]

2017 the year of interiors at Apple (just in: no new hardware)

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Everyone was wrong...Apple CAN innovate!

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

I've been buying Apple products since 1988. They've always been hellishly expensive but until of late I never felt ripped off. It was always designed for my needs and paid for by the the time effecencies it brought to my workflow. But I guess starting with the 9.7 Air Pro that changed and now the MBP which is stuck in 2012 with 16GB RAM limit -- a mediocre amount for a supposedly pro machine and decoupled of basic accessories like a power cord. I shutter to think of how Apple will dumb down and price up the next iMac revision.

 

[wevrem]

They chyron's in Duncan's video are nearly illegible. More contrast is needed to be able to read those.

 

[entropys]

Could be completing this Taj Mahal while Apple is accused of losing the Mac plot seems rather symbolic. Bread and circuses rather than substance

 

[kyjaotkb]

How legal is it to fly your own drone over a private construction site?

 

[Takuro]

I wonder how Apple handled their attempt at purchasing that apartment complex. It should have been done before they bought out the larger area owned by HP. Once they made their plans apparent for Campus 2, of course no landlord in their right mind would sell off units that are within a short walk of many people's future workplace. It sucks, but it's a good opportunity to capitalize off of.

 

[jezbd1997]

How legal is it to fly your own drone over a private construction site?

Wondered this myself each time these video updates have been posted..

 

[Zadigre]

Wondered this myself each time these video updates have been posted..

same here...
he may have gotten a special permission by Apple.

 

[9081094]

How legal is it to fly your own drone over a private construction site?

I wish that drone could drop some ideas for Mr Cook & Mercenaries.

 

[Vjosullivan]

How legal is it to fly your own drone over a private construction site?

Above 500 ft above the ground, almost certainly fine because your in airspace. Below 500 ft you might run into FAA Minimum Safe Altitude regulations. However, these are designed for manned aircraft. Almost certainly new legislation is required for drones and how low you can fly a drone over private land / what constitutes trespass by a drone when the pilot is elsewhere / what you can film / privacy rights, etc. Sounds like a good time to become a lawyer in this area.

 

[miknos]

Dont know you guys but It looks great and Im eager to see it completed.

 

[32828870]

I just realized it looks like a giant Mac Pro top. Maybe that's why there hasn't been an update, they've been building an in ground Mac.

#CooksCastle #LetThemUseMediocrity!

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I find the juxtaposition of articles about large construction projects from two of my favorite companies to be interesting.

On the one hand, we have Apple Campus 2.
On the other hand, we have Tesla Gigafactory 1.

One seems to be a large, vain, and pointless structure.

The other is vital for allowing the company to scale up so they can have a real impact worldwide.

 

[Rogifan]

Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

I've been buying Apple products since 1988. They've always been hellishly expensive but until of late I never felt ripped off. It was always designed for my needs and paid for by the the time effecencies it brought to my workflow. But I guess starting with the 9.7 Air Pro that changed and now the MBP which is stuck in 2012 with 16GB RAM limit -- a mediocre amount for a supposedly pro machine and decoupled of basic accessories like a power cord. I shutter to think of how Apple will dumb down and price up the next iMac revision.

I thought the new campus was designed by Jobs?
[doublepost=1477921116][/doublepost]

I find the juxtaposition of articles about large construction projects from two of my favorite companies to be interesting.

On the one hand, we have Apple Campus 2.
On the other hand, we have Tesla Gigafactory 1.

One seems to be a large, vain, and pointless structure.

The other is vital for allowing the company to scale up so they can have a real impact worldwide.

Maybe you should have run this by Steve Jobs when he first conceptualized it. This so-called large, vain, pointless structure was conceived on his watch.

 

[RightMACatU]

Will employees be required to bring their own power cable to work? /s

 

[Constable Odo]

Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

I've been buying Apple products since 1988. They've always been hellishly expensive but until of late I never felt ripped off. It was always designed for my needs and paid for by the the time effecencies it brought to my workflow. But I guess starting with the 9.7 Air Pro that changed and now the MBP which is stuck in 2012 with 16GB RAM limit -- a mediocre amount for a supposedly pro machine and decoupled of basic accessories like a power cord. I shutter to think of how Apple will dumb down and price up the next iMac revision.

It appears Apple is building products that suit about 90% to 95% of their users and anyone outside of that range will simply have to look elsewhere for computers. I suppose that's an efficient way for Apple to operate although that still doesn't make much sense to me as far as the Mac Pro computers are concerned. Apple wants to greenify everything, so power requirements have to be kept low. Apple would never be able to compete with companies building VR computers because they require lots of graphics processing using the latest cards available. Those things really suck power. I remember Oculus saying how no Macs were suited for their VR Rift gear. I find that somewhat sad but obviously Apple is moving a different way from most computer hardware companies. I really hate the fact that most PC users can just grab any latest off-the-shelf graphics card(s) and use them to their fullest and beyond. All Apple can provide is old and crippled mobile graphics processors for the iMacs that probably end up being further throttled down due to thermal constraints of the case. I'm sure Apple's best iMacs suit the majority of the users just fine but the few power users don't fit into Apple's plans at all.

I'm thinking Apple is being run by bean counters but if saving the ecology is Apple's way, then I suppose there's nothing that can be done. I guess I shouldn't be selfish wanting a couple SLI graphics cards needing some huge power supply when we should be cutting back on energy use. Everything Apple does seems to cut waste and excess materials so I suppose I'll have to go along with it. I guess that's what the Mac Pro was designed to do but it damn sure was crippled in the process, in my opinion. Why should some cheap Windows PC be able to run circles around it in terms of graphics power? And you're stuck not even being able to upgrade it over time. I just wish Apple would come out and explain what and why they're doing things the way they do them instead of having everyone just thinking the company is dazed and confused.

 

[urtules]

Different Apple Campus, Different Apple. Not sure the latter is what Jobs had in mind with the Think Different ad campaign. Sadly it seems Apple is the new Microsoft, a lumbering behemoth of a company encumbered by its own size.

I've been buying Apple products since 1988. They've always been hellishly expensive but until of late I never felt ripped off. It was always designed for my needs and paid for by the the time effecencies it brought to my workflow. But I guess starting with the 9.7 Air Pro that changed and now the MBP which is stuck in 2012 with 16GB RAM limit -- a mediocre amount for a supposedly pro machine and decoupled of basic accessories like a power cord. I shutter to think of how Apple will dumb down and price up the next iMac revision.

The new campus was personally approved and even presented to the California government by Steve. You can find video on YouTube. This campus is different it's like nothing we ever seen before. So Think Different fits here.
The Apple is still small company and they operate in the same way instead of devisions - Microsoft office devision, xbox devision they have functions and they pull engineers from different projects together, that's why the Touch Bar has some features from Apple Watch for example. You can't get Cocoa programming job at Apple if you no willing to relocate to California, unlike Google and Microsoft with different teams almost in every major country. The greatest thing build by Steve is not Mac iPod or iPhone it is Apple itself. It can succeed and it proved to do things even better than under Jobs rule. Definitely more open, diverse and environmentally friendly.

16 GB RAM limit is not a problem at all if you consider SSD speed and macOS became much more memory efficient starting from Mavericks. It is not not technically possible
to include 32 GB and keep good battery life. At some point like it happened with CPU clock speed, memory amount has to stop. It can't increase forever, that's against laws of physics.

9.7 iPad Pro is the best iPad ever made, I would get it without thinking, but I already own iPad Air 2 and I am very happy with it. Magic Safe got much worse after 2.0 and 3.0 update, I agree Thunderbolt charging is not as safe. My recommendation is to wait, I bet Apple already working on a USB-C Magic Safe cable. Yes, it is bad move to not release it with new MBP.
[doublepost=1477922738][/doublepost]

Will employees be required to bring their own power cable to work? /s

What do you mean?

 

[32828870]

I thought the new campus was designed by Jobs?
[doublepost=1477921116][/doublepost]
Maybe you should have run this by Steve Jobs when he first conceptualized it. This so-called large, vain, pointless structure was conceived on his watch.

Actually, that is a wide misconception. Not getting into specifics, but towards 2008 Cook began making the decisions as Jobs focused on the iPad release that truly launched the iPhone (long story on that one as well). As Jobs' health worsened he focused on his family and the iPad launch.

Jobs' other project in limbo since 1984 finally broke ground. The Spanish Colonial Revival 'Jackling house' designed by architect George Washington Smith in the early 1900s for copper magnate Daniel Jackling was finally approved for demolition by the courts in 2010 after Jobs bought in 1984 and fought preservation societies/groups and city council(s). Plans for the new structure were finalized years ago and Jobs was already retired behind the scenes. He knew his time was short and wanted to build his designed home almost 30 years in the making (the design was quite modest in size and aesthetics with some very innovative technology that Jobs and Ive hoped to showcase at some point). Sadly, the lot is empty as the mansion was demolished and Jobs passed away before it was built.

The Apple Campus was 75% Ive. Jobs entertained the idea and fought for its approval, but behind the scenes he lamented its ostentatiousness as it evolved into something very different than he imagined. However, he felt the need to let Cook make the decisions during his transition and decided to "let go" and enjoy his remaining time. He still worked from time to time, but the rumors that he worked up until his death weren't true.

 

[taran420]

Reading macrumors news threads can be taxing. Not because of the hate Apple products get but literally all topics are steered towards Apple Apple hate.

There is zero discussion taking place about the actual topic and sadly mods don't seem to be doing anything.