There’s a flying saucer that’s being built, and the coolest thing about it is that you’re not even going to have to launch into space to see it. Instead, you can drive down to Cupertino. Just wait until 2016, because that’s when construction on Apple’s decidedly futuristic new campus will open its … pod doors?
Why Go To Space When You Can Go To Apple?
Have a look at the concept sketch for the new Apple campus that’s set to be unveiled in 2016. Currently, construction is well underway and is leading to traffic delays around the construction site. And it’s no wonder – the building (more like complex) – is absolutely massive. Also, no matter how you look at it, the thing looks exactly like a spaceship. So what’s the story behind that?
In actuality, the architectural inspiration for the building was not a spaceship, which is hard to believe if you look at pictures of it. But according to Norman Foster, founder and chairman of Forster+Partners – the architectural firm responsible for the design of the building – the inspiration was actually based on a traditional London square, one in which residences encircle a communal park. Once it’s completed, the new Apple campus will literally revolve around a massive area of lush green space.
But it’s not just the architectural firm that’s influencing the building’s design. There’s one force that’s a similarly powerful voice in the design process: the late Steve Jobs. As anyone who owns an Apple device knows, one of Jobs’ characterizing design features was a seamless construction. Whether it was an iPhone or desktop computer you were buying, Jobs made sure they were designed with an unparalleled smoothness, almost as if they were made in one elegant stroke. This same design principle extends to Apple’s new campus.
“As with Apple’s products, Jobs wanted no seam, gap or paintbrush stroke showing” in the building, an anonymous company insider told Bloomberg BusinessWeek, according to Macworld. “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 finer quality ‘heartwood’ at the center of the trees would be used.”
Much like how Apple Stores are designed, the new campus will feature walls made of glass, enabling the 13,000 employees who will work there to look out at the company garden space. It gives the whole place a clean but undeniably futuristic aura – thought that’s something that will likely be offset by the presence of a large park in the center space made by the building. But while the park may be the literal centerpiece of the building, it’s hardly the most important part. At a company like Apple, it’s what goes onboard the ship that’s going to matter the most. Here are some of the work functions that will be carried out in the new digs:
- Research. No surprise here. For all the elegant simplicity of its products’ designs, Apple is a company that fuelled by extraordinary research, and for that they need space. Well space they shall have in the flying saucer, since the building will feature 300,000 square feet of room for research.
- Exercise. As an Apple employee, unless you have one of those little scooter things you’re going to be getting a lot of exercise at the new facility, because the design of it is over a mile around.
So that’s that for the new Apple building. We can’t wait to see it in 2016!
