Apple's Spaceship Campus Shown Off in Rendered Fly-Through

[BvizioN]

I wonder how Apple would feel if the builders say.

"Ok Mr Apple, all done now, and glued closed on all the work"
"You won't be able to upgrade or change anything"
"If in a years time you want a part of it improved, we will sell you a new one"

Ah, the difference is that Apple is the one who pays the money and says this is how I want it to be build! It's not that the spaceship campus is out for a sale and Apple have some interest on buying it

 

[iOSaddict]

I really hope that the actual building will look as nice as the rendering.

 

[Zxxv]

Have the NSA been in yet? laying cables, laying bugs?

would they do such a thing?

 

[madrag]

(…) Something strikes me about how Insular this all looks. Like a castle wall to keep others out, it does not give the feeling of openness, quite the opposite.

Like a castle / prison to keep people out. (…)

My thoughts exactly!

Each time I read these news about the construction of the "Spaceship" campus, it's like I'm seeing a countdown to something bad. Maybe the fact that it looks so closed is what's giving me that impression.

I bet it will be nice to work there, but seems very closed nonetheless.

 

[cclloyd]

At 0:56 the trees randomly change layout.

 

[CFreymarc]

Indeed, and is why buildings are not made this was as you want to be able to get from any point to any point in an easy manner. not walk all the way round a doughnut or across the middle when its pouring the rain.

Something strikes me about how Insular this all looks. Like a castle wall to keep others out, it does not give the feeling of openness, quite the opposite.

Like a castle / prison to keep people out.

As you would expect, it's done to be different.

I wonder how Apple would feel if the builders say.

"Ok Mr Apple, all done now, and glued closed on all the work"
"You won't be able to upgrade or change anything"
"If in a years time you want a part of it improved, we will sell you a new one"

The existing Infinite Loop on De Anza has this same feel. It is mostly done for security where access is restricted as needed too keep projects confidential. If you look at the public plans, there are two vehicle access gates into the center courtyard of the mothership from maintenance and such.

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At 0:56 the trees randomly change layout.

Noticed that too. A few of the trees do the "Mickey Mouse ears" things where they turn to show only one side no matter what viewing angle presents.

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Wonder what the per sqft construction costs will be, compared to a conventional building? I know Apple is ripe with cash now, but I have seen other corporations downfall start with this type of spending.

You are talking the classic "big building curse" where a company builds their big house only to have their business model take a nose dive. New York and San Francisco are littered with skyscrapers where the only thing left of the original company is the name in the stone of the structure.

The ones that immediately come to mind are the buildings of Chrysler, Pan Am, Ma Bell (Yelp is in their old San Francisco building with the Art Deco Bell System logos still in the lobby) and others.

Then there was Palm whom had grand plans for a campus and they took a nosedive before the land deal was even finished.

 

[CFreymarc]

The parking structures look pretty far away from the building. Seems like a bit of an inconvenience.

The larger the campus, the more you run into this. This by no means will be the largest corporate campus in Silicon Valley. Intel, Google, AMD, TI (the old National Semiconductor campus) has huge facilities with parking structures where you walk a few hundred yards from your car to your office.

Honestly, while it is a corporate campus, I can see a very nice sub-culture of late evening youth working at all odd hours here and the occasional exec working late on a deadline in the middle of the night.

Also, that amphitheater setting and the mix of benches and lawn is a great improvement over the existing mini-courtyard inside the loop.

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Won't it take a very large amount of water on a very regular basis in order to keep all that green from dying out? Or is an environment like that self-sustained?

(I'm not dissing, just ignorant on the matter, looking for clarification)

I wouldn't be surprised if they are making the fountain in the center of the courtyard part of the irrigation system for the trees around the campus.

This building, like the rest of Apple, will end up being one huge ecosystem. I'd like to know what plans they have for wildlife taking residence in this space. Can we expect to see local birds start nesting. I'd love to see a Cooper Hawk move in and hunt the grounds for field mice and such. Any fish in the fountain?

 

[ikir]

Just awesome

 

[flat five]

You are talking the classic "big building curse" where a company builds their big house only to have their business model take a nose dive. New York and San Francisco are littered with skyscrapers where the only thing left of the original company is the name in the stone of the structure.

The ones that immediately come to mind are the buildings of Chrysler, Pan Am, Ma Bell (Yelp is in their old San Francisco building with the Art Deco Bell System logos still in the lobby) and others.

fwiw, the chrysler building wasn't built by chrysler the corporation.. more like chrysler the person.

 

[SamEllens]

How do you figure?

inefficient if you need to get to the other side of the building. In a typical building it would likely take far less time to get to many of the departments. Though I would imagine they have clustered people as much as possible there surely still must be people who have to move around to the various departments on a regular basis.

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fwiw, the chrysler building wasn't built by chrysler the corporation.. more like chrysler the person.

"As Walter Chrysler was the chairman of the Chrysler Corporation and intended to make the building into Chrysler's headquarters,[14] various architectural details and especially the building's gargoyles were modeled after Chrysler automobile products like the hood ornaments of the Plymouth"

 

[BaldiMac]

inefficient if you need to get to the other side of the building. In a typical building it would likely take far less time to get to many of the departments. Though I would imagine they have clustered people as much as possible there surely still must be people who have to move around to the various departments on a regular basis.

Based on what? As I said earlier, it's only a 10 minute walk around the outside of the building, and nobody would likely do that since there is only one entrance. It's shorter around the inside. And much shorter if you simply cut across the courtyard. Is that significantly different than any other building that houses 13,000 employees?

And that's accepting your silly assumption that walking distance to the other side of the building is the only functional concern of an office building. I'm sure you can think of dozens of functional advantages of this design that trump an extra minute or two walk on occasion.

 

[flat five]

"As Walter Chrysler was the chairman of the Chrysler Corporation and intended to make the building into Chrysler's headquarters,[14] various architectural details and especially the building's gargoyles were modeled after Chrysler automobile products like the hood ornaments of the Plymouth"

Chrysler headquarters was in the building. still, Chrysler Auto (or whatever the corp is called) didn't build it.. The president of Chrysler built it as an individual.
it would be similar to Tim cook building this round one instead of apple corporation.. when/if the building is sold, Tim gets the cash- not apple.

 

[moniker]

GCHQ lookalike

Construction at Apple's "Spaceship" campus in Cupertino is progressing at a rapid pace, and while the circular structure is still far from finished, the old buildings on the 176-acre site have been fully demolished, roadwork is underway, and the outer walls of the campus are taking shape, outlining where foundation will be poured.

For some reason the new Apple HQ building looks almost exactly like the British GCHQ (e.g. the British NSA) building. Coincidence?

 

[kdarling]

Something strikes me about how Insular this all looks. Like a castle wall to keep others out, it does not give the feeling of openness, quite the opposite.

Makes sense. Apple is not big on visitors. They like their secrecy.

I read that one of the purposes of the building shape, was to help keep internal secrecy as well. Groups that needed to work together would be side by side, but nicely isolated from other groups around the ring.

However, Cook and Ive seem to have a different work philosophy than Jobs did. They talk a lot now about internal collaboration and integrated soft/hardware, instead of the compartmented model that Jobs favored, where everyone was kept unaware of what the other groups were doing.

This building design might not be the best choice for a post-Jobs Apple. Not a big deal of course. It's not uncommon to have to work around a building's limitations.

 

[NY Guitarist]

For some reason the new Apple HQ building looks almost exactly like the British GCHQ (e.g. the British NSA) building. Coincidence?

It's totally NOT a coincidence. Also, you'll notice some rectangular buildings that look the same as each other. It's a conspiracy.

 

[Piggie]

Makes sense. Apple is not big on visitors. They like their secrecy.

I read that one of the purposes of the building shape, was to help keep internal secrecy as well. Groups that needed to work together would be side by side, but nicely isolated from other groups around the ring.

However, Cook and Ive seem to have a different work philosophy than Jobs did. They talk a lot now about internal collaboration and integrated soft/hardware, instead of the compartmented model that Jobs favored, where everyone was kept unaware of what the other groups were doing.

This building design might not be the best choice for a post-Jobs Apple. Not a big deal of course. It's not uncommon to have to work around a building's limitations.

Indeed, that seemed a BIG mistake by jobs.

When the iPad came out, it was like the people who made the main apps had not even talked to each other, and totally disconnected in looks and function.

Nothing like a steamlined set of programs all sharing the same look and feel to give the best experience.

Very disjointed and clunky, which I assume is what they were spending so long to try and put right in iOS7

 

[Tech198]

For some reason the new Apple HQ building looks almost exactly like the British GCHQ (e.g. the British NSA) building. Coincidence?

It sure does :-

https://www.google.com/maps/place/G...2!3m1!1s0x48711b4649506183:0x591157d46c4088ee

 

[wilhoitm]

There are two underground parking levels in the basement of the circular structure providing more than 2200 parking spaces. Note that underground the ring is thicker (maybe 30% thicker). About 6000 parking spaces will be in the big structures on the southern end.
Image

A selection of plans

Detailed plans

That looks like a Space Ship docked at a space port! I love how the engines and the engine nacelle are at 2 o'clock complete with refueling lines and then there are loading docks at 3 o'clock and also another loading dock at 7 o'clock!

 

[SolRayz]

Why do they need all that space?

 

[wilhoitm]

Why do they need all that space?

List of largest corporations in the World based on market capitalization. Look at #1!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_corporations_by_market_capitalization#2013

 

[firewood]

I wonder how Apple would feel if the builders say.

"Ok Mr Apple, all done now, and glued closed on all the work"
"You won't be able to upgrade or change anything"
"If in a years time you want a part of it improved, we will sell you a new one"

That is, in fact, exactly what happened.

HP had a bunch of decent 2 and 3 story rectangular office buildings with lots of parking asphalt around them on that same site. In order to upgrade to something better and greener, Apple had them all torn down to build an improved taller round building with very little asphalt around.

 

[CFreymarc]

fwiw, the chrysler building wasn't built by chrysler the corporation.. more like chrysler the person.

Back then it was nearly one and the same but yes, he did build it.

 

[flat five]

Back then it was nearly one and the same but yes, he did build it.

yeah, i wasn't trying to negate your point or anything like that and i know what you were saying.

just that i randomly knew that tidbit about the chrysler building so i spewed it out

[edit]- according to wiki, he did it that way so his children could inherit the building.

 

[CFreymarc]

yeah, i wasn't trying to negate your point or anything like that and i know what you were saying.

just that i randomly knew that tidbit about the chrysler building so i spewed it out

[edit]- according to wiki, he did it that way so his children could inherit the building.

The tragedy of the Chrysler family into the post-war era is a textbook example of a drama filled, partial big money fall from grace. In short, all of his children did not follow in his footsteps.

The family money diverged into several post-war boom 50's-era business endeavors. Some cashed in and continues Walter's banner while most flamed out becoming beatniks in Tribeca and early hippies.

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There are two underground parking levels in the basement of the circular structure providing more than 2200 parking spaces. Note that underground the ring is thicker (maybe 30% thicker). About 6000 parking spaces will be in the big structures on the southern end.
Image

A selection of plans

Detailed plans

The after hours parking garage races at this level will be epic. I bet the security guards will race themselves during "camera outages."

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It sure does :-

https://www.google.com/maps/place/G...2!3m1!1s0x48711b4649506183:0x591157d46c4088ee

Keep in mind that one of NeXT's biggest volume purchases of NeXTstation's was to the CIA and other "associated groups." Then Steve came back to Apple.

 

[Rogifan]

Makes sense. Apple is not big on visitors. They like their secrecy.

I read that one of the purposes of the building shape, was to help keep internal secrecy as well. Groups that needed to work together would be side by side, but nicely isolated from other groups around the ring.

However, Cook and Ive seem to have a different work philosophy than Jobs did. They talk a lot now about internal collaboration and integrated soft/hardware, instead of the compartmented model that Jobs favored, where everyone was kept unaware of what the other groups were doing.

This building design might not be the best choice for a post-Jobs Apple. Not a big deal of course. It's not uncommon to have to work around a building's limitations.

This is what Ive told the New York Times in the interview the published last week:

“Titles or organizational structures, that’s not the lens through which we see our peers,” he said.

When Jobs was running the show the company was more compartmentalized. You had different executives overseeing iOS hardware and software and Mac hardware and software. Heck when the iPod took off Jobs created an iPod division. It still floors me that when working on the iPhone the hardware designers weren't allowed to see the software (they taped on a piece of paper with a mock UI) and the software guys couldn't see the hardware.

With Cook's 2012 re-org Apple is now a completely functional/matrixed organization. What I like about that set up is it helps prevent any one executive from amassing too much power or creating a fiefdom (like Forstall allegedly was doing). Executives are forced to work together because they're all responsible for different aspects of every Apple product.

One of Apple's designers talked about the new campus at the RSA Design awards last week. Of course Apple being Apple, the RSA wasn't allowed to post video of the talk.

@WeAreWhatWeDo: Richard Howarth talking about the new Apple campus calmness that working near parks bring to an office #RSADesign pic.twitter.com/qCUtHFDxJA