Apple's new "spaceship" campus to feature $161 million auditorium and $74 million physical fitness center
As construction on Apple's brand new "spaceship" campus continues, we've gotten random updates here and there. Now, thanks to BuildZoom, additional tidbits about the building's interior have emerged.
According to two building permits granted to Apple, the company's new campus building will include a US$161 million theatre that will likely be used for future product announcements and other engagements. For a company that obsesses over product secrecy like no other, having a state of the art auditorium on campus will allow Apple exert even more control over future product unveilings. As noted by Re/Code, recall that Apple, ahead of the Apple Watch unveiling this past September, shrouded a venue in a white covering at the De Anza College campus "to keep prying eyes from glimpsing unreleased products."
In addition to a new theatre, the building will feature a whopping 100,000 square foot fitness center that will cost approximately $74 million to put together. Previous reports have indicated that the building's cafeteria will be able to sit 3,000 people concurrently.
All told, construction efforts on Apple's circular new campus is expected to cost upwards of $5 billion, a marked increase from the project's initial $3 billion budget.
The completed structure, crafted with curved glass and slated to be four stories tall, was designed from the get-go to be exceedingly environmentally friendly. When initially pitching the idea before the Cupertino City Counsel in 2011, Steve Jobs explained that the building would make use of renewable energy sources and would feature underground parking as to preserve the above-ground foliage.
Upon completion, the new campus will reportedly be capable of housing 12,000 employees. The building is slated to go operational by 2016.
