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Apple Inc. HQ: Think Different

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)


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Futuristic "Apple City" Planned for Cupertino



Paul Daniel Ash
MMi Staff Writer

Apple has been working secretly with the world-renowned designer of the Hong Kong International Airport on the design of its new campus in Cupertino, according to a business publication in Spain. El Economista [googletrans] profiles "Apple City," which has been designed by Norman Foster - who also worked on the design of all-solar Masdar City in Abu Dhabi - to be at the cutting edge of energy efficiency and sustainability, and will feature a network of tunnels underground instead of roads connecting the buildings.

The design process has reportedly been going on for months, but Apple just bought a disused 98-acre parcel of land from Hewlett-Packard for the new Apple City, right next to 50 acres the company bought back in 2006. The company is outgrowing its current headquarters at One Infinite Loop, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told the San Jose Mercury News, saying "we now occupy 57 buildings in Cupertino and our campus is bursting at the seams." The acquisition of the new plot of land will allow the project to go forward.

Apple City reportedly takes a lot of elements from the Foster + Partners design of Masdar City, which is being built from the ground up to be carbon-neutral and zero waste, with no cars allowed inside the city walls and personal rapid transit "pods" to take everyone around. Apple City will also be car-free, with all buildings connected by tunnels. In addition to giving employees an easier way around the 146-acre campus, which is split by Pruneridge Avenue and Interstate 280, the tunnels will also eliminate all roads and parking lots on the surface. "The buildings which will house the engineers and R&D will also be multifunctional and will incorporate cutting-edge technology in materials and equipment as well as renewable energy resources," El Economista's report says.


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#222 ·
Some additional photos of the CARBON FIBER roof for the auditorium called the "Theatre" by apple. Apple believes is the largest freestanding carbon-fiber roof ever made. Weighing 80 tons! More details in this Mashable article



I thought this might be Steve Jobs visiting from the control center near Andromeda. I hear Elvis wanted to take a look. :lol:
 
#223 ·
 
#224 ·
Never ceases to impress. Looks like something that should be hidden in the New Mexico desert.

Btw, along Wolfe and on the other side of the freeway half a dozen large new restaurants are going up and another 10 or so refurbing or expanding and adding parking structures. Gearing up for the 10k plus coming soon.
 
#237 · (Edited)
Popular Science Magazine gets a private tour of Campus 2.
lots of details on the glass:



THE GLASS

Using what Apple says are the world’s largest pieces of curved structural glass isn’t the easiest way to construct a workplace. But that’s what the computer company finds itself doing here. To build these sweeping panels, Apple could rely only on Sedak/Seele: the glass manufacturers behind the flagship Apple Store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and the George Street store in Sydney, Australia. The German firm was tasked with fabricating glass panes between 36 and 46 feet wide at a length of 10-and-a-half feet.That’s over twice the length of the largest standard pane.
Manipulating glass into a curved shape is typically done during the tempering process. But this does not always result in a crystal-clear panel. To preserve clarity, the glass gurus tried something else. “We curved the glass during the final step of lamination,” says sedak/seele managing director Nelli Diller, “right after heating it to 600 degrees Celsius [1,112 degrees Fahrenheit] to strengthen it.”
Once finalized, the 20-ton crates of glass are shipped from Germany to California by boat, via the Atlantic Ocean through the Panama Canal. Each glass panel is installed by grabbing the glass with suction cups and moving it very slowly into place. All told, the campus boasts 900 panes of vertical glass, 1,600 panes of canopy glass, 510 panes of clerestory glass, and 126 panes for skylight glass. The heaviest pieces weigh over 3 tons. The best glass today has a 1/8-inch tolerance, meaning it can be 1/8-inch longer or shorter than specified. But Apple’s glass was designed with even closer precision:a 1/32-inch tolerance.

info on hollow concrete floor/ ceiling:



THE CONCRETE

Campus 2 uses custom concrete slabs which are designed with large, hollowed out middles, allowing the building to “breathe” on its own. This self-ventilation “largely removes the need for conventional cooling methods,” says Stefan Behling, a senior executive at international architecture and design firm Foster + Partners, the company behind the slabs. It took a team of 70 engineers to design them. To ensure employee comfort, Apple’s second campus will still build in a traditional cooling system. But ideally, it will function only as a fallback method.
Each concrete slab averages 13 feet by 40 feet. And just like with cinder blocks and I-beams, the hollow middle “doesn’t take away from the concrete’s strength,” says Behling. The company used 4,300 concrete slabs, weighing a total 212 tons, to create the structure. If that sounds heavy, compare it to the Spaceship’s 330-ton, 92-foot-tall steel reinforced restaurant doors. These dining-hall doors alone will span 60,000 square feet and collectively weigh 330 tons.

Also has a nice video showcasing inside the ring and the interior:
[dailymotion]x4fmo5u[/dailymotion]
 
#250 ·
Not sure about that building specifically but that whole side of Tantau was bought from HP, Siemens and others for additional development space. The Spaceship is not nearly large enough to hold the Apple people in the South Bay area so there is lots of building, buying and leasing going on.
 
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