Apple Inc. HQ: Think Different

[Ed007Toronto]

So what's the status on the new building? Has it been approved?

[ddxv]

APPLE to HAVE 5MW SOLAR ROOF

When renderings of the new Apple campus in Cupertino, California appeared on the scene in June we were stunned by its innovative shape, now we’ve learned that the new circular spaceship building, designed by Foster and Partners, will have one of the largest corporate solar roofs in the country. New building plans released by Apple to the city of Cupertino show the solar canopy will cover the entirety of the main rounded structure as well as the stand-alone parking structure. Estimates put the structure’s square footage at just over 500,000 which would make the array a whopping 5 megawatt system, allaying our fears that Apple will run their new campus on natural gas.

source
http://inhabitat.com/apple-reveals-b...mw-solar-roof/

[Ed007Toronto]

Good idea with solar on the roof.

[desertpunk]

Apple Market Cap Reaches $514 Billion




Only Exxon and Microsoft have ever reached a half trillion dollars in value.

[desertpunk]

CNN

Apple's new 'spaceship' campus: What will the neighbors say?

By Doug Gross, CNN | updated 1:31 PM EDT, Tue May 22, 2012



(CNN) -- It will cover 2.8 million square feet and have its own power plant inside its massive, gleaming circular design. It will be covered in solar panels and house up to 13,000 people on a daily basis -- not to mention 6,000 trees. It's been compared to a spaceship. And now, as Apple looks to make its innovative new headquarters a reality, it's checking with the neighbors. Due to be completed in 2015, Apple's new headquarters may be one of co-founder Steve Jobs' final, longest-lasting legacies.

This week, Apple reached out to residents of Cupertino, California, where its current headquarters resides (and will continue to after the new campus is built). In a letter obtained by blog 9to5 Mac, the company seeks to allay some concerns that its neighbors have expressed since the plan was submitted to the city last summer.

According to the letter, the four-story building will be a research facility that will not replace the existing campus on 1 Infinite Loop. And it will not be open to the public, so there will be no museum or corporate store. The building will contain an auditorium that seats 1,000 and will be used for special events like product unveilings, though.

The letter, from Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, says the company plans to break ground on the site as soon as Cupertino gives its approval, which is expected this year. Neighbors are invited to send Apple a letter or go to the city's website to express any concerns.

In the suburban city of roughly 58,000 people, the primary concerns have focused on additional traffic and environmental impact, both of which Apple says it is addressing in the design of the campus, which is expected to get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification as an environmentally friendly project.


[...]

[desertpunk]

Make no small plans

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalic/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalic/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalic/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalic/

[Cal_Escapee]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Make no small plans

I think this thing will be able to take off just like in Prometheus.

[JoshuaSantos]

Pretty damn incredible. Great design and practicality.

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Make no small plans

[usedmedia]

Apple updates 'spaceship' plans

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/n...hip-plans.html


Some new renderings from the City of Cupertino's website.

http://www.cupertino.org/index.aspx?page=1107

[qpwoeiruty]

I'm surprised to see so much support for this building in this forum, which usually calls out these kinds of sprawling corporate campuses that isolate huge chunks of land from the surrounding community. I truly hope that Apple will throw this design away and go back to the drawing board, for reasons that this article probably articulates better than I could:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kb..._apple_is.html

In short, while this design may be aesthetically innovative, it's functionally just another huge, isolated, completely car-dependent single-use sprawling corporate campus. Apple should really think about making their offices part of a community, not just a fenced-off enclave that will leave a huge hole in the urban fabric of the area.

[Cal_Escapee]

I, for one, would be completely opposed to this in a central city. But it's in Cupertino which is basically a segment of the giant suburb known as Silicon Valley. I don't think the world would be a better place if we paved over everything and turned the entire planet into midtown Manhattan. There are places for that kind of density but Cupertino isn't one of them (downtown San Francisco and possibly even downtown San Jose are).

What Apple is proposing is handing what we in the area call "the South Bay" a big bit of open space, all planted and landscaped, with their building inconspicuously (from the surrounding streets) in the center.

It is not much different from a university campus and many of those are not only popular but well-used by their communities and beneficial to them. Meanwhile, while Apple workers will have to get to work for now by internal combustion engine (a surprising number of Silicon valley workers don't drive themselves but use company luxury shuttle busses), you can be pretty sure Apple will retrofit some sort of low emission tram, monorail or other service to the nearest transit stop if public transit in the Valley reaches the neighborhood.

[qpwoeiruty]

I have to respectfully disagree here. Opposing denser, mixed-use development in the name of "open space" is exactly what keeps holding Silicon Valley back from any real growth. What is "open space" anyway? Are parking lots "open space"? People seem to think so, because that's why we keep building these single-use office parks surrounded by acres of parking lots instead of building walkable, mixed-use communities.

If we really want open space that the public can actually use, Apple should build some denser office buildings on one part of that lot and sell the rest back to the city to make a public park. All the landscaping you see in the current design? Not public. Its primary purpose is to act as a buffer that puts distance between the public and the actual buildings inside of it. Read here, there will be a fence surrounding the entire campus: http://www.officesnapshots.com/2012/...office-design/ A bunch of privately landscaped property sealed off from outsiders will add nothing to the community. That visually distinctive design? You'll never see it either because your view will be blocked by the trees, which nobody will be able to picnic or play soccer under because it's not a public park.

Back to the integrated, walkable idea. Is asking for an integrated, walkable community the same as asking to turn the area into midtown Manhattan? Look at any place that has that coveted "small town charm." What you'll find are walkable, integrated communities, not acres and acres of fenced-off no-man's land. Besides, is a little more density not needed in this "giant suburb?" This area is one of the nation's primary hotbeds of job growth, where housing demand consistently outpaces supply. If any suburban area needed some urbanization, this would be it. Isn't it time to stop thinking like a giant suburb and start thinking like a city? Santa Clara County is already home to 1.8 million people anyway, so if you're expecting the area to be a quaint village, that train has already left the station long ago.

[Black Box]

^ Agreed. The design looks cool, but it is so cut off from the surrounding area. This campus design is the opposite of Amazon. Does anyone have a good example of a suburban campus that integrates well into its community/surrounding area?

[qpwoeiruty]

How about @first in north San Jose? Still too much surface parking for the shopping center IMO, but at least the Brocade campus is fairly compact, has its parking in a structure in the rear, while all the shops and restaurants, not to mention 2 hotels (1 complete, 1 under construction) and the new apartment construction across the street are all within walking distance.

Or I remember seeing another proposal somewhere on the forum for a campus, I think in either San Jose or Santa Clara, that had a street with retail going through the middle and some recreational space between the office buildings. Can't seem to find it now though...

[usedmedia]

Originally Posted by qpwoeiruty

I'm surprised to see so much support for this building in this forum, which usually calls out these kinds of sprawling corporate campuses that isolate huge chunks of land from the surrounding community. I truly hope that Apple will throw this design away and go back to the drawing board, for reasons that this article probably articulates better than I could:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kb..._apple_is.html

In short, while this design may be aesthetically innovative, it's functionally just another huge, isolated, completely car-dependent single-use sprawling corporate campus. Apple should really think about making their offices part of a community, not just a fenced-off enclave that will leave a huge hole in the urban fabric of the area.

I read the article you linked, and agree with both the writer and you in spirit. However, from a practical standpoint the suggestions in the article are a pipe dream.

I actually laughed out loud when the writer proposed that Apple build affordable housing. Since when has Apple done anything altruistic? I live in the south bay and cannot for the life of me remember Apple ever doing anything for the region or sponsoring a charity. I'm sure they must do *something*, but it's definitely not high on their priority list. They're in the business of making as much money as possible.

Plus, Cupertino is the very definition of the south bay suburban lifestyle. Families pay millions of dollars to buy 50's and 60's era detached tract homes and send their kids to top-performing schools. They do not want "new urbanism". How do I know? Any new housing development is loudly opposed almost immediately by the community as soon as it's proposed. The arguments against are the usual: traffic, degrade the schools, etc. If you want to read some absolutely delicious NIMBY non-sense feast your eyes on these links:

Concerned Citizens of Cupertino
http://www.cupertino.cc/

Cupertino Cares
http://www.cupertinocares.org/

Stop Condotino!
http://www.freewebs.com/savevallco/

[qpwoeiruty]

Agreed, doing the right thing is never easy around here. Reading those NIMBY sentiments was rather depressing. How can a place synonymous with technology and innovation still be so backward thinking? Still important to push for change though, no matter how hard it may be to achieve. Maybe we need to appeal to the engineering sense in people: land is a limited and valuable resource, and higher density equals higher efficiency in using that resource. How do you justify anti-density NIMBYism to thousands of engineers?

[Cal_Escapee]

Originally Posted by Black Box

^ Agreed. The design looks cool, but it is so cut off from the surrounding area. This campus design is the opposite of Amazon. Does anyone have a good example of a suburban campus that integrates well into its community/surrounding area?

I think you all are entirely missing the point. What Apple thinks it is offering the community is a PARK (with their building occupying a small part in the middle). And that potentially integrates quite well with Cupertino.

Seriously--what do you think integrates with suburban streets? This is not a place where people walk everywhere. It's not an urban neighborhood.

And my understanding is that the Amazon HQ is in an urban, not suburban area. There are plenty of similar examples in the Bay Area, more often in denser/more urban San Francisco than is Silicon Valley. Among them are Twitter, Google's SF campus, Salesforce.com, Dolby Labs, Square and hundreds of others.

[qpwoeiruty]

Originally Posted by Cal_Escapee

I think you all are entirely missing the point. What Apple thinks it is offering the community is a PARK

If Apple really thinks this, then they are delusional. But from the link I posted earlier, the entire thing will be fenced off and the purpose is clearly privacy, so I don't think they're under any delusion that they are offering Cupertino residents anything.

If all of that landscaping really was a public park that local residents, not just Apple employees, could enjoy for recreation, I would have no qualms with this proposal. But I just can't imagine Apple letting outsiders hang around on their property. I can't even imagine many Apple employees will utilize that "park" for recreation. Therefore, it's just going to end up as wasted space. They plant a bunch of trees to try to make it look like it's good for the environment, but unlike trees naturally growing in the forest, landscaped trees in the suburbs take energy and municipal water to maintain. If that was to provide recreational space that people could enjoy, that would be ok, but when people are only going to drive through it on the way to the parking garage...

Anyway, the point is that with better design, Apple could build the same amount of office space and also do something positive for the community.

If the community is dead-set on maintaining its suburban character, they could at least offer some public parkland instead of private landscaping with no purpose. They could also improve connectivity by splitting up the parcel into smaller blocks to allow thru traffic, so drivers don't have to drive all the way around the entire massive site.

On the other hand, the community could realize that it's in the middle of a growing, major populated area, so allowing a slightly more urban character to develop would not be a bad thing. Again, nobody is proposing to turn Cupertino into midtown Manhattan, but what sense does it make to allow and encourage job growth without allowing any housing growth? More jobs than places to live just means people will have to live elsewhere and drive to work, so NIMBY arguments against housing because of traffic are debunked.

Anyway, greater density and urbanization is going to have to occur somewhere in the south bay if job growth is to continue, and how to do that could be debated in another thread. For the sake of the south bay as a whole, I wish Cupertino would choose the latter path, although I concede there is little hope for that. But regardless of how Cupertino decides to grow, a huge, fenced-off area is not good for any kind of community, so I sincerely hope that Apple will reconsider its plans and build its offices in a more innovative and practical way.

[Black Box]

Originally Posted by Cal_Escapee

I think you all are entirely missing the point. What Apple thinks it is offering the community is a PARK (with their building occupying a small part in the middle). And that potentially integrates quite well with Cupertino.

Seriously--what do you think integrates with suburban streets? This is not a place where people walk everywhere. It's not an urban neighborhood.

And my understanding is that the Amazon HQ is in an urban, not suburban area. There are plenty of similar examples in the Bay Area, more often in denser/more urban San Francisco than is Silicon Valley. Among them are Twitter, Google's SF campus, Salesforce.com, Dolby Labs, Square and hundreds of others.

So, it's not a park? My familiarity with Cupertino is nil, besides it being the home of Apple. It would be possible for a company, school, hospital, government entity, etc., to integrate itself better into a suburban setting. My question was meant to be broader, but clearly wasn't taken as such.

[Cal_Escapee]

Updated December 12, 2012, 5:57 p.m. ET
Apple Campus Helps Hometown Shine
Commercial Rents and Building Activity Have Popped in Cupertino Since the Tech Giant Unveiled Plans for Futuristic Building

By IAN SHERR

First the personal-computer industry, then the smartphone and then the tablet. The latest area touched by Apple Inc.'s innovation: its hometown of Cupertino.

As Apple moves closer to breaking ground on its new campus, Cupertino is experiencing a flurry of economic activity, with commercial rental rates surging and construction projects ramping up.

"It brings a sense of confidence to see that Apple is making this significant investment here," says Todd Trekell, a regional senior vice president at commercial real-estate-services firm Borelli Investment Co. He says many property owners are touting their relative proximity to Apple as a selling point.

Cupertino Village, across the street from Apple's new building, is expanding its renovation plans.

Cupertino's office rental rates have jumped about 40% in the past year, according to commercial real-estate firm Colliers International. The average asking rate for office rentals was $3.75 per square foot in the third quarter, compared with $2.69 during the same time a year ago. In Santa Clara County as a whole, rents rose about 9% during the same period to $2.79 per square foot . . . .

Apple's new offices, known as Campus 2, will be built on 175 acres about a mile east of the company's current headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop off Highway 280 . . . .



Construction is expected to begin next year on the 2.8 million-square-foot structure—which will accommodate up to 12,000 employees and include a 1,000-seat auditorium, a fitness center, a research facility and underground parking—following a delay of about six months while the company continues to modify its proposal for the project. The campus is expected to be completed in 2016 . . . .

Overall, Apple operates out of about 50 buildings in Cupertino, aside from its current headquarters. The company is the largest landowner in Cupertino, with an estimated $808 million in assessed property values, according to an annual report compiled by the city for fiscal 2011. It is unclear what Apple will do with its current buildings once Campus 2 is finished, but a person familiar with the matter bills the new property as part of the company's ongoing expansion.

Apple is also the top employer in Cupertino . . . .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...myyahoo_module