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From garage to campus: A look at the digs of tech's Big Five
Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon: These juggernauts are at the forefront of the tech industry. And with that success comes an ever-expanding workforce, and the need for a place to put them. To keep pace with growth, these companies have been making the requisite real-estate deals in order to build physical spaces to match their forward-thinking business approach. Fortunately, their designs are also more environmentally conscious than ever before. With the eyes of the world upon them, they've taken the well-being of the Earth, as well as their employees, into account, building innovative work spaces in an attempt to harmonize with the world around them. Below, we take a look at some of the steps these giants of industry have made over the years as they've moved from garage operations to vast campuses. [Image: NBBJ]
Apple releases new image of Campus 2 progress
Apple has released a new aerial image of the continuing progress of its new campus in Cupertino. The image was shared on the city's website, along with updates about how construction will impact the citizenry in the near future. Construction isn't expected to be finished until the fourth quarter of 2016. The new image comes almost a month after an aerial video was released showcasing the project's progress. Even with all of the progress that's been made since that video's release, the amount of work remaining before completion of the project is staggering. Head over to Cupertino.org to get a look at just how much a project of this size can impact a city's day to day commute.
Amazing Apple Campus 2 aerial tour courtesy of AppleInsider
The new Apple Campus 2 - AKA "The Spaceship" - is rapidly progressing through construction, and AppleInsider has been sending a DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus drone through the skies of Cupertino on a regular basis to provide a birds-eye view of the campus taking shape. The December tour shows that despite the short days of fall and early winter, a lot of work is being done. The spaceship ring is now almost completely covered with a concrete subfloor structure, and over a dozen cranes are busy moving materials into the ring for assembly. Construction on the US$161 million underground theater is also moving along, with a well-defined excavation near a hill constructed of fill materials that will soon be covered with trees. Finally, the drone imagery show that the first of two huge concrete parking structures is now three floors in height. AppleInsider also provides a bit of context near the end, showing the location of the existing Infinite Loop headquarters nearby. Many thanks to Daniel Eran Dilger and the rest of the AppleInsider staff for making this amazing footage available to the public.
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.
Drone footage of the new Apple headquarters in Cupertino is stunning
Construction is still underway on Apple's new campus, expected to be open in about two years. We've been following the spaceship shaped campus' construction for a while now, but it's been a bit since new images have become available. How much progress has been made in the meantime? Wonder no more, thanks to this new beautifully-shot drone footage of the campus. Even with the incredible amount of work that has already been completed, the massive scope of the project becomes apparent when you realize how much space is left to develop. You can view the video below.
Apple Campus 2 on track for completion in 2016
Apple's Cupertino campus, located at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California, acts as its corporate headquarters and comprises roughly 850,000 square feet of office and lab space. In 2006, Steve Jobs announced Apple would be building a second Cupertino campus. Construction was originally supposed to be finished by 2015, but delays pushed the initial groundbreaking from 2013 to 2014. Now an updated schedule on Cupertino.org is showing the project is expected to be finished by the end of 2016. Cupertino's website regularly updates with information about how the development of the second Apple campus will affect traffic in the city. You can see the current schedule below:
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for March 4, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Apple Campus 2 construction begins... with some demolition
The site for Apple's "spaceship" headquarters and Campus 2 is in the process of being cleared, with demolition of existing buildings at the location now well underway. MacRumors posted a number of photos today showing the construction fences erected around the location, as well as equipment being used for the demolition. The demolition work is proceeding on land purchased by Apple in 2006, where a massive underground parking structure will be built. According to the MacRumors article, the headquarters building is to be located on land north of where the work is taking place. The 2.8 million-square-foot facility is included in Phase 1 of the construction, expected to be completed by 2016, along with a fitness center and auditorium. Phase 2 plans include 600,000 square feet of office and R&D buildings. Image provided by MacRumors
Thief arrested for snatching copper pipes at site of Apple's new campus
A man accused of attempting to steal copper hardware from the site of Apple's new "spaceship" campus in Cupertino has been arrested, San Francisco's CBS affiliate is reporting. The man, named Glenn Cartwright, (who may or may not own an Android phone) was apprehended by sheriff's deputies with the help of both a sheriff's department helicopter and a police dog (who could have possibly been named Siri). Apple security personnel noticed that the gate to the work site had been opened after they shut it earlier in the night on Saturday, November 30, and proceeded to call the authorities (possibly using their iPhones). After Cartwright (who may have spent his last few dollars on a Windows 8 tablet during a Black Friday sale) was found, a stash of copper pipes and wiring was discovered nearby. The new Apple facility isn't slated to be completed until 2016, so there's still plenty of time for Cartwright to plan out a more well-thought-out heist (perhaps with the help of an Amazon "Mayday" support representative on a Kindle Fire HDX). [Image credit: Editor B]
Daily Update for November 20, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Steve Jobs in the Apple Campus 2 video
On October 1, 2013, Apple made a presentation at the Cupertino, Calif., city hall as part of the effort to seek approval to begin construction on Apple Campus 2. Part of the presentation included the video you see below, which features Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs being quoted at several points. The video quality isn't that great, so it's obvious that this is a copy that may have been made on-site at the presentation. However, it's amazing to see Jobs, architect Norman Foster and others talking about the project. Construction is expected to begin this year, with occupancy coming sometime in 2015.
Daily Update for October 28, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple's Campus 2 will feature a 1,000-seat, all-glass keynote auditorium
Apple Gazette has found out something pretty cool about Apple's Campus 2. In addition to being the future flying saucer-like headquarters of Apple we're all familiar with by now, the campus will actually feature a second, independent building on the grounds entirely dedicated to media and staff events. As Apple Gazette notes: Apple Campus 2 comes with its own detached structure built specifically for media-filled keynote presentations of new products (though I imagine it will be used for plenty of staff events, too). This new theater will seat 1,000, and get this: the auditorium itself will be underground. Visitors will reach the underground theater by entering a large, round lobby with a disc-shaped metal roof and circular walls made entirely of glass. As you can see from these artists' renderings, the resulting structure strongly resembles a slender flying saucer floating in a forest. The lobby also boasts a pair of cylindrical glass elevators, like the one inside New York's 5th Avenue Apple Store. You can see one of them in the rendering at the top; it's on the left side next to a staircase. The 1,000-seat capacity means that the auditorium will surely replace media events at both Apple's Town Hall meeting rooms and the Yerba Buena Center where product launches for iOS devices and Macs take place now. It will also give Apple the added advantage of more secrecy as people will not be able to get up close and photograph banners going up like they do now at the public Yerba Buena Center. But WWDC shouldn't move however, as 1,000 seats is nowhere near enough room to house everyone who attends.
Apple's Campus 2 presentation video posted online
The City of Cupertino has posted the Apple Campus 2 Presentation: City of Cupertino Study Session video from earlier this month. Apple's Senior Director of Real Estate & Facilities Dan Whisenhunt led the presentation on Apple Campus 2 project at the October 1, 2013 Joint Study Session of the Cupertino City Council and the Cupertino Planning Commission, according to the video's YouTube notes. A few interesting tidbits from the study session video include a short video presentation to the crowd which sees UK-based architect Norman Foster who designed Apple Campus 2 note how the "spaceship" shape of the campus wasn't there from the beginning and that its design "grew into that." Foster also revealed that in 2009, Steve Jobs called him personally to enlist him as the designer of Campus 2. According to Foster, once he arrived in Cupertino, Jobs said, "Don't think of me as your client. Think of me as one of your team."
Cupertino City Council unanimously approves Apple's new campus
Fret not, devotees: the mothership is coming home. Yes, in a vote that shocked no one, the Cupertino City Council unanimously approved Apple's Campus 2 -- otherwise known as the spaceship campus. The vote was held last night after the council opened up the floor to hear arguments for and against the building of Apple's new HQ. As MacRumors notes, this vote of approval isn't quite the last step to getting it built. There's always a chance that someone could petition the council to reconsider its decision, but that would need to be done within the next 10 days. If that doesn't happen, Apple can begin demolishing existing structures on the site. Then on November 19, there will be one final public reading of the agreement between Apple and the City of Cupertino. If there are no last-minute, dramatic oppositions, Apple's full building permits will go into effect the next day.
Apple Campus 2 model unveiled by CFO Peter Oppenheimer
Photo credit: Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group The San Jose Mercury News today posted exclusive photos of a detailed model of Apple's new corporate headquarters campus. The model was unveiled by Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and Director of Real Estate and Facilities Dan Whisenhunt, and provides an amazing look at what the campus will look like when completed in 2015. The model shows how the company plans to take a former Hewlett-Packard campus that is about 80 percent asphalt parking, and turn it into one that is about 80 percent open space and parkland. The 175-acre site features the iconic ring-shaped headquarters building, an above-ground parking structure covered by photovoltaic solar panels, a round on-site theater for presentations, a fitness center for employees and more parking underground. Not surprisingly for a company that prides itself on green initiatives, the main headquarters building is designed to be naturally ventilated, with radiant cooling that will eliminate the need for air conditioning about 70 percent of the year. Whisenhunt told the Mercury News that the building will not only use 30 percent less energy than typical Silicon Valley office buildings, but it will also use 100 percent renewable energy -- much of which is produced at the campus. While the images cannot be shown here, we recommend that readers visit the Mercury News site to view the slideshow. The campus is up for final approval on October 15 at a Cupertino city council meeting.
Daily Update for June 4, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple releases economic impact report for new headquarters
Apple's new headquarters building is still years away from completion in 2016, and as part of the approval process for the new facility, Apple has just released a report prepared by Keyser Marston Associates for the City of Cupertino, Calif., that details the "Economic and Fiscal Impacts Generated by Apple in Cupertino." Apple Campus 2 will include the "spaceship" office building that will house about 12,000 employees, plus other buildings (research and development labs, a central plant, auditorium and fitness center) that add another 1,000 people to the mix. The report doesn't include the impact of 1,200 more employees who will eventually be added as part of a Phase 2 building program. Apple's existing Infinite Loop campus will remain in place, so the report looks at the total impact as both locations are filled with employees. It's expected that by 2016, the company will directly employ 23,400 people in Cupertino -- impressive growth considering the company currently has about 16,000 people at Infinite Loop and leased space in the city. Some of the other projections provided in the report detail the tax revenue that the addition of the new facility will generate. Apple currently provides about US$24.8 million in property tax revenue to local agencies; that number is expected to more than double to $56.5 million with the completion of Apple Campus 2. Other benefits include one-time revenues to the City of Cupertino for construction taxes and fees of about $38.1 million and $13.9 million of sales and use tax revenue from the purchase of construction materials. The full report is included below for your reading pleasure. [via The Next Web] Apple Economic Impact Report
Daily Update for April 25, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple's planned 'spaceship' campus reportedly $2 billion over budget
In June of 2011, Steve Jobs stood before the Cupertino City Council and announced Apple's desire to build a massive new campus on 98 acres of land it had previously acquired from Hewlett Packard. And by massive, I mean that it will have a slightly larger footprint than the Pentagon. Jobs explained that Apple was undergoing a period of tremendous growth and that it was renting buildings adjacent to its 1 Infinite Loop campus in order to house its ever-growing number of employees. "We've rented every scrap of building we could find in Cupertino," Jobs previously noted. Apple's proposed new campus will be able to accommodate 12,000 employees, will feature an auditorium large enough to host WWDC-scale presentations and will sport a cafeteria capable of seating 3,000. As you can tell from the architectural renderings pictured above, the design of the new campus will be anchored by a large circular building. "It's a little like a spaceship landed," Jobs explained to the council. "It's got this gorgeous courtyard in the middle, but it's got a lot more." In typical Apple style, Jobs boasted that the planned structure would be comprised of curved glass. "There's not a single straight piece of glass in this building," Jobs said at the time. "We've used our experience in building retail buildings all over the world. We know how to make the biggest pieces of glass for architectural use. And, we want to make the glass specifically for this building here. We can make it curve all the way around the building... It's pretty cool." While Jobs initially hoped that the campus would be completed by 2015, things haven't exactly gone as planned. Apple hasn't even broken ground yet and the new campus likely won't be finished until 2016 at the earliest. What's more, BusinessWeek is reporting that Apple's initial US$3 billion budget for the project has shot up to $5 billion. Since 2011, the budget for Apple's Campus 2 has ballooned from less than $3 billion to nearly $5 billion, according to five people close to the project who were not authorized to speak on the record. If their consensus estimate is accurate, Apple's expansion would eclipse the $3.9 billion being spent on the new World Trade Center complex in New York, and the new office space would run more than $1,500 per square foot -- three times the cost of many top-of-the-line downtown corporate towers. The report relays that one of the reasons for the delay is that Apple is still working with its lead architectural firm -- Foster + Partners -- to lower the budget by as much as $1 billion. Part of the cost overrun is due to Jobs' extremely particular taste with respect to materials. As with Apple's products, Jobs wanted no seam, gap or paintbrush stroke showing; every wall, floor and even ceiling is to be polished to a supernatural smoothness. All of the interior wood was to be harvested from a specific species of maple, and only the finer-quality "heartwood" at the center of the trees would be used, says one person briefed on the plan last year. As it stands now, Apple will reportedly begin removing the 26 buildings which currently occupy the eventual landing spot for the "spaceship" this June. As a point of interest, Apple is doing all it can to make its new campus as green as possible. To that end, campus parking will be underground as to maintain the above-ground foliage while the roof will be comprised of 700,000 square feet of solar panels.
