Archinect - News

Apple's impressive approach to architectural accessibility

2018-02-26T19:58:00-05:00

In our most recent episode of Archinect Sessions, we briefly discussed the (hilarious) news of people running into glass walls and dodging deadly icicles at Apple-designed buildings. It was also mentioned, however, that Apple is one of the few mega-corps that are truly pushing excellence in design, so it's understandable that innovation also comes with its fair share of failures.

Over the weekend Twitter user @xarph shared some photos of the impressive approach to (architectural) accessibility at Apple Park Visitor's Center, the publicly accessible component of Apple's new campus.

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New images of Apple Park Visitor Center as it opens to the public

2017-11-27T14:44:00-05:00

Over a decade in the making, Apple's newly completed campus finally welcomed the general public on November 17th with the grand opening celebration of the Apple Park Visitor Center. There, customers can sip on coffee and snacks; purchase a range of Apple products and accessories, including Apple Park-exclusive T-shirts, hats, postcards, baby onesies, playing cards, and tote bags; and gawk at a 3D model of the campus that provides guests with information through an augmented reality experience.

Apple Campus. © Nigel Young/Foster+Partners

Designed by the company's de facto architectural firm in residence, Foster + Partners, the structure's main feature is a cantilevered carbon fiber roof designed to float. Sound familiar? Along with the staircases, stone walls, terrazzo floors and glass façade a bird would easily fly into, the design is very much alike their also freshly completed flagship store in Chicago, and features similar elements as the...

Apple Campus will open its doors to the public next week for iPhone 8 launch

2017-09-05T15:41:00-04:00

While the new Apple Campus still remains incomplete, Apple is moving forward with hosting the launch of their new iPhone 8 on site. The company sent out a media invite last Thursday with the tagline, "Let's meet at our place," confirming the location of the event. It will be the first time Apple has allowed large numbers of outsiders to visit the campus.

Main campus, still incomplete. YouTube/Duncan Sinfield

The reveal coincides with the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone, launched in 2007. Rumored features include a 3D camera that can unlock the device using facial recognition, no more home button, wireless charging, OLED display technology with greater power efficiency, improved dual-lens camera, and an almost $1,000 price tag.

Steve Jobs Theater. YouTube/Duncan Sinfield

The keynote speeches will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater, an 1,000 seat below ground auditorium that sits on top of the hill overlooking the main building. Visitors enter through a 20-foot-tall glass cylinder ...

Apple's Jony Ive, considered a "poet" by Norman Foster, discusses the architecture of Apple's new campus

2017-07-27T12:28:00-04:00

Apple Park is unlike any other product Ive has worked on. There will be only one campus—in contrast to the ubiquity of Apple’s phones and computers—and it doesn’t fit in a pocket or a hand. Yet Ive applied the same design process he brings to technological devices: prototyping to minimize any issues with the end result and to narrow what he calls the delta between the vision and the reality of a project.

“A lot of the buildings that are being built at the moment are products of software-only cultures,” says Ive. “Because we understand making, we’ll build [a prototype] and try it and use it, and see what works and what doesn’t.”

Foster + Partners' Apple "spaceship" set to touch down and open up in April

2017-02-23T12:57:00-05:00

According to a press release from Apple, it will take six months to move all 12,000 employees into the 175-acre campus, which will officially open for occupancy in April. In addition to the 2.8 million square foot, naturally ventilated Foster + Partners'-designed "spaceship" building, the campus features two miles of running and walking paths, and boasts a 17 megawatt solar energy rooftop installation (making it one of the largest in the world). Nothing about this place is small, or happenstance; the construction process was reportedly a clash between perfectionist designers and slightly more impressionistic contractors.

However, all's well that ends well: although Steve Jobs won't be able to see the completed campus, designer Apple's chief design officer Jony Ivy feels like things worked out. “Steve invested so much of his energy creating and supporting vital, creative environments. We have approached the design, engineering and making of our new campus with the same enthusiasm and ...