Archinect - News

Apple opens 'The Observatory' underground space at Apple Park in Cupertino

2024-09-10T17:11:00-04:00

Apple’s new The Observatory event space at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, has been unveiled by the tech giant as part of the launch event for the new iPhone 16. The design, which is in ways reminiscent of several of James Turrell’s skylit spaces, is marketed as a contemplative experience that dialogues with the surrounding mountainside landscape.

All images provided to Archinect from Apple

The materials palette features terrazzo, natural stone, and timber (the same used in the campus' circular main building and Steve Jobs Theater next door). The building reportedly runs on 100% renewable energy.

All images provided to Archinect from Apple

Early design concepts of The Observatory were led by Foster & Partners. Apple’s Global Architecture & Design team, led by John De Maio, completed the building design and development in collaboration with Gensler.

All images provided to Archinect from Apple

The site offers an elevated view of the main Apple Park building an...

New photos of the 'floating' carbon fiber roof Foster + Partners designed for Apple

2017-10-03T15:27:00-04:00

While most of Apple's new Cupertino campus is still under construction, a small crown jewel, the Foster + Partners-designed Steve Jobs Theater, already attracted the world's attention when it hosted the unveiling of the latest iPhone models last month.

Now we've received new, fascinating photographs that show how both firms — architect and client — applied their trademark obsession with details to a building that was especially close to the late namesake's heart.

The building's most striking feature — the record-breaking, disc-like
roof that appears floating in mid air — is not only an engineering feat
but also a damn thing of beauty: weighing 80.7 tons and spanning 155 feet, it is the world's largest carbon fiber roof and also takes the podium for all-glass-supported structure.

Here are some more details about the Steve Jobs Theater project we've received from F+P:

Carbon fiber roof:

The Theater lobby roof is the largest self-supporting fully carbon fiber roof in the world.
The ro...

Christopher Hawthorne: Apple and Amazon's architectural visions "owe nothing to the American city"

2017-09-14T17:58:00-04:00

It has also been remarkable to watch Amazon pursue a dramatically different strategy. Its plans for a second headquarters suggest that in terms of architecture and campus planning it wants to be everything Apple is not. It wants to lean into the city — and thorny questions about gentrification and housing prices, to the extent that they will be a natural byproduct of this process — rather than away from it.

"Though he took a very different path to get there," Hawthorne writes in his LAT opinion piece analyzing Apple & Amazon's lofty headquarters ambitions with a focus on urban integration (or the complete lack thereof), "Bezos ultimately reached the same conclusion Jobs did: that the wealthiest and most powerful tech companies owe nothing to the American city."

Wired gets up close and personal with Apple's new Foster-designed campus

2017-05-19T18:01:00-04:00

As with any Apple product, its shape would be determined by its function. This would be a workplace where people were open to each other and open to nature, and the key to that would be modular sections, known as pods, for work or collaboration.

Since 2009, Foster and Partners have been working on a new headquarters for the tech giant Apple, originally in close collaboration with Steve Jobs, its founder, who saw it as one of his last crucial contribution to his legacy. Even though dramatic photographs of the ring-shaped structure have been flooding the Internet for some time now, there hasn’t really been any deep dives into the mega-project—until now.

Writing for Wired, Steven Levy weaves together long-awaited details about its appearance with issues of architectural representation and the brand identity of Apple, which the “spaceship” is intended to embody.

“Inside the 755-foot tunnel, the white tiles along the wall gleam like a recently installed high-end bathroom; it's what the Lincoln Tunnel must have looked like the day it opened, before the first smudge of soot sullied its walls. And as we emerge into the light, the Ring comes into view. As the Jeep orbits it, the sun glistens off the building's curved glass surface. Th...

Perfectionists versus contractors: the details of building the Apple Campus

2017-02-09T13:45:00-05:00

One of the most vexing features was the doorways, which Apple wanted to be perfectly flat, with no threshold. The construction team pushed back, but Apple held firm. The rationale? If engineers had to adjust their gait while entering the building, they risked distraction from their work, according to a former construction manager. “We spent months trying not to do that because that’s time, money and stuff that’s never been done before,” the former construction manager said.

Although detail-obsessed architects can often find working with broad-strokes contractors to be challenging, there's one group of designers with perhaps even more rigorous attention to detail: the team at Apple. According to this article in Reuters, the actual building of the "spaceship" Apple Campus in Cupertino has been an unusually precise experience for those working in construction. According to the article, among many other requirements, "Apple's in-house construction team enforced many rules: No vents or pipes could be reflected in the glass. Guidelines for the special wood used frequently throughout the building ran to some 30 pages." Think perfect?

Watch this 6-month time lapse drone video of the Apple Campus 2

2016-12-16T18:47:00-05:00

With all the drone construction videos of the new Apple Campus 2 (AC2) circulating on the interwebs, it's easy to lose track of what the progress has been on this Foster-designed Goliath of a project just in recent months.

Luckily this latest 4K video by Matthew Roberts on YouTube provides a handy 6-month time lapse of key campus sites, like 'the Spaceship,' auditorium/theater, primary access tunnel, research & development facility, the atrium, main parking garages, fitness center, maintenance facility, and the infamous 'mountain of dirt.'

Watch the video further below.

All images via Matthew Roberts' drone video on YouTube.

More recent AC2 news on Archinect:

Apple's new spaceship campus is taking shape

2016-03-15T15:30:00-04:00

Apple's new campus has received significant attention during its development phase [...] Apple has shared with Mashable exclusive details and photos of its new corporate offices, including the theater that will serve as the venue for future Apple product launches. While we've been hearing about the design of the campus and its facilities for nearly five years, installation of the massive, curved glass panels that surround the Main Building’s spaceship-like design is about 33% complete.

Here are a few more photos of the latest construction progress. Head over to Mashable for more images.

The Foster + Partners-designed structure previously in the Archinect news:

Proposed 30-acre green roof would be the world's largest

2015-09-09T14:16:00-04:00

A South Bay developer is reimagining an outdated Cupertino mall by building the world’s largest green roof on top of it. The Vallco Shopping Mall, bought by Sand Hill Property Company for $316 million last year, is destined to become a 30-acre elevated public park that will connect shops to offices, trails and vineyards. The $3 billion design was inspired by “starchitect” Rafael Viñoly, who is working alongside Olin Landscape Architects to replace most [of] the Valleco Shopping Mall...

Apple invites visitors to gaze at its 'spaceship' from new observation deck

2015-07-30T14:12:00-04:00

You’ll will still be able to gaze lovingly upon the ultra-sleek new Cupertino “Spacehip” campus — no drones required. Buried in city documents filed this spring are previously unreported plans for a new visitor’s center — complete with a store and viewing platform. Apple’s 2013 approvals for the massive project included the ability for Apple to build a visitor’s center, but a detailed project description had not been submitted until April.

Drone footage shows the latest construction status of the Foster-designed Apple campus

2015-01-05T11:55:00-05:00

Construction is moving along on Apple's new concentric campus dubbed the "spaceship". Today high resolution drone footage was released (unofficially) showing the current status.

First photos of enormous facade element for Apple's UFO

2014-07-08T19:53:00-04:00

Photos have emerged of what looks like the first facade piece for Apple's new mega HQ.

While civil engineering is now well underway at the site in Cupertino, California, the facade element was spotted thousands of miles away in the tiny Bavarian town of Gundelfingen. Josef Gartner GmbH, a Germany company specialized in steel-and-glass construction, had won the contract to deliver the facade elements for Apple's UFO, and it appears that the first prototype has now been put on display for presentation and testing.

Images show how the minimal curvature of the facade element foreshadows the colossal scale of the final, completed building with two of these elements eventually stacked on top of each other.

Completion of the Foster + Partners-designed headquarters is expected for 2016.

H/T and photos: ifun

Previously: "Confidential" architectural drawings of new Apple HQ leaked

Cupertino council clears huge Apple 'spaceship' campus for liftoff

2013-10-16T11:31:00-04:00

Apple's proposed new spaceship-shaped headquarters got a super-charged blast-off Tuesday night when the Cupertino City Council voted unanimously to approve the 2.8-million-square-foot behemoth beside Interstate 280, fulfilling a dream of co-founder Steve Jobs, hatching an iconic landmark for Silicon Valley, and promising more congestion in an already traffic-challenged region for decades to come.

Apple headquarters plan moves forward; Foster + Partners seek architects in Cupertino

2013-10-04T11:50:00-04:00

The Planning Commission in Cupertino, where Apple has its current headquarters, endorsed the project this week. It now goes to the City Council, which is expected to vote on it on Oct. 15.

As news spreads that Apple's new Cupertino headquarters moves closer to approval, Foster + Partners pushes forward with recruiting architects for the high-profile California project. See their current job openings here.

Apple vs. Amazon: Whose new headquarters is cooler?

2012-09-20T19:00:00-04:00

I’m no architecture critic, but the word “iconic” keeps popping to mind. In an industry full of soulless suburban campuses, give Jeff Bezos & Co. credit for building this in the city, at least.

The geeks speak on two new planned tech campuses. Which one do you prefer?

Gov. Brown gives fast-track status to Apple headquarters

2012-07-03T17:26:00-04:00

"Apple's state-of-the art campus brings at least $100 million dollars in investment to California and generates no additional greenhouse gas emissions," Brown said in a statement to this newspaper, listing two of the requirements Apple had met to qualify under the law. "On-site fuel cells and 650,000 square feet of solar panels will provide clean, renewable energy for more than 12,000 Apple employees on the new campus."

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer sends brochure to Cupertino neighbors inviting feedback on new ‘Campus 2′

2012-05-20T11:40:00-04:00

Campus 2, as it is currently called, will not replace the 1 Infinite Loop campus. Instead, it will provide “research facility” office space for an additional 13,000 employees, which is more than 3,000 than 1 Infinite Loop. There is also 300,000 feet of expansion space for future growth.

If you care about cities, return that new iPad

2012-03-15T17:20:00-04:00

Apple is actually taking a site that is now parking lots and low-rise boxes and making it worse for the community. Yes, it will be iconic, assuming you think a building shaped like a whitewall motorcycle tire is iconic, but it will reduce current street connectivity, seal off potential walking routes and, as I wrote some time back, essentially turn its back on its community. With a parking garage designed to hold over ten thousand cars, by the way.

Kaid Benfield, staff member at the Natural Resources Defense Council, slams Apple on it's proposed new HQ in Cupertino.

Before you run off to return your idevices, though, consider that the new Archinect iPhone app will be released shortly ;)

Plans for new Apple HQ, by Norman Foster, officially released

2011-08-15T11:05:17-04:00

If you love Apple and fine ingenious design as much as we do, you will be thrilled to hear that the beautiful, environmentally-aware Foster + Partners designed new Apple Campus is now one step closer to becoming a reality. The Cupertino City Council has just announced that Apple Inc. has submitted a development proposal for their new Apple Campus.

New ideas for sustainable architecture in the Americas

2011-07-05T13:30:19-04:00

... in Rio de Janeiro, city officials are working with architects to integrate the notorious favelas with the rest of the city by new cable car lines and a walkway designed by famed architect Oscar Niemeyer designed. Rio's government and business community are also funding the Morar Carioca architectural competition that will hire 30 architects to build healthy homes, schools, and clinics for the city's poorest 200,000 residents.

Steve goes to the mayor (again)

2011-06-09T17:50:50-04:00

Maybe they just couldn’t come up with any questions. So here are a few: Can you confirm that the architect of the building is Norman Foster, like everyone’s reporting? Is Apple going to make the grounds open to the public so they can enjoy the fifty billion trees that he’ll be planting? Will there be any kind of programming in the new auditorium that can expose the next generation to careers in technology and science? Could you share your awesome private transit system with the public?

Alissa Walker, aka Gelatobaby, has penned a great piece in response to the highly circulated presentation of Apple's new headquarters to the Cupertino city council.

Also, our friends at OpenBuildings have posted a hilarious mashup of the event to YouTube.

Steve Jobs Proposes Spaceship-Shaped Cupertino Campus

2011-06-08T13:06:51-04:00

[Apple] has staff scattered in rented buildings throughout the city. The plan for the future campus puts 12,000 to 13,000 employees inside a single four-story oval building. Jobs made a convincing case for what he calls "a shot at building the best office building in the world." By moving parking underground, 80% of the 150-acre property will be landscaped. Apple has hired the lead arborist from Stanford to fill it with 6,000 trees, and the company will build its own energy center power source.

We assume this design is by Norman Foster, judging from the design and rendering style, but we don't have confirmation.

Norman Foster tapped to design new Apple campus

2010-12-06T12:05:34-05:00

The architect has some pretty incredible plans, including an underground tunnel system linking the two campuses (called it). In fact, the entire road transportation system will operate through a network of tunnels (tubes?) that will clear the surface areas for green. “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,” according to the report.

Norman Foster has been selected to design the new Apple campus on HP's old campus which Apple recently purchased for $300m. Good choice!