When Apple finishes its new $5 billion headquarters in Cupertino, California, the technorati will ooh and ahh over its otherworldly architecture, and Apple will pat itself on the back for yet another example of "innovation." ...But few are aware that Apple’s monumental project is already outdated, mimicking a half-century of stagnant suburban corporate campuses that isolated themselves—by design—from the communities their products were supposed to impact. — Fast Company Design
This fascinating article delves into the soul-sucking thinking behind isolated corporate behemoth design, which essentially captures the employee for the entire day and encourages a detached, "Who cares; I've got mine!" thinking towards maintaining urban infrastructure. Consider this:
Connecticut General’s new corporate estate included snack bars, ping-pong tables, shuffleboards, bowling alleys, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, a barbershop, beauty parlor, game room, media library, meditation room, and gas station, as well as offsite services like dry-cleaning, shoe repair, flowers, and grocery delivery—more than half a century before Google and Facebook added such benefits. "All these perks had a certain element of welfare capitalism," Mozingo says, "this idea that the all-inclusive physical environment is going to foster certain kinds of behavior, which are profitable for the company."
This thinking extended into the employee's need for a car:
Even the shift to personal vehicles rather than public transit was hailed as a perk: Private cars were supposedly more reliable and allowed for more flexible work schedules, particularly in an era before highways were clogged with traffic. In actuality, this encouraged employees to extend their workday past the standard hours of nine-to-five, and helped isolated workers to ensure company loyalty. "This is something that Silicon Valley companies still do—they capture the employee for the entire day," Mozingo says. "The descriptions were extremely explicit about this, about solidifying corporate culture, instilling loyalty, and minimizing happenstance meetings with people from other companies who might steal you. It’s about making the corporation your entire life."
For more on the Apple campus:
11 Comments
Nice to see someone point out the obvious. This is not a good building.
yeah, well, i'm going to need that TPS report....company town.
"Nice to see someone point out the obvious."
Agreed. So many people are too quick to jump on the hype train of flashy details and "collaboration spaces" without stopping to consider 1) how few people will ever actually get to benefit from these walled gardens and 2) how draining these campuses are on the public space that the rest of us are left with.
Odd how so many college campuses and their immediately adjacent small towns are so pleasant to experience. Chapel Hill and Charlottesville come to mind but there are hundreds like them. On the other hand have you ever been in an "office park" that wasn't DEAD no matter the architecture?
Good points. That's because everyone hates being at work. These companies that try to promote the mentality that work is life and that the corporation is an extended family make me sick. It's fucking weird.
early morning Apple rant:::::::: I have always hated Apple, ever since I was kid. It had to do with the bullshit qualities people attributed to Apples vs PCs and even Commodores and Amigas. Everything an Apple can do a PC can do better and all their phone technology is outdated Samsung technology anyway. Apple has a stupid cult design culture following for some reason. Its often the same people who frequent coffee shops, something I never do - I do not drink coffee....... Thats not a campus - Its a Prison---- How many grad students have now written Koolhaasian Jeremy Bentham essays on that building? JLA-X I agree. Remember Studio back in the day, everyone hanging out NOT getting any work done until 48 hours before jury. The only reason I was any more creative in studio was because I entered Hynogogic states as I had not slept in days. Would of been better off being productive during the day like 9-5 and eating mushrooms to enter hallucinogenic states!!!!!! These offices with no real desks, all couches and tables, I don't get it?!?!?!? I walk into these hip upstarts, some worth millions, and wonder - do any of you fuckers that look like coffee shop fuckers actually work???????? oh, is that why your salary sucks????? well, you are part of something bigger than life - your life. Thats the pitch man, and if you ain't a bible toten evangelical you are probably a coffee sipping Apple fanatic - same peoples.............I have what I call a German switch - the second I sit on a couch with a beer in my hand the work switch goes off. Not only am I not thinking about work - I do not care. I may talk about architecure but not the stuff you get paid for. $$$$$$$ Apple is pure marketing and Steve Jobs is dead......now go buy an Alienware computer, do 8 hours of work, and get out, get out of the bullshit hip work place that is only there to mask the fact you are a slave by ideology and indeed not a free thinker. All Apple fanatics are not free thinkers. I have my doubts about coffee drinkers as well.......viva Red Bull, Craft Beer and Nietzsche!
I'm surprised they haven't patented the circle shape and claimed that they "invented" the form of this shitty building.
Isn't there a prison somewhere where multi-story cells are in a ring like this and there is a guard tower in the middle so the guards can keep everyone under surveillance at all times?
you're thinking the panopticon volunteer.
the design largely originated from the 18th century, credited to jeremy bentham.
Olaf, umadbro?
Btw, the upstarts you mention, their salary DOESN'T suck.
no and i didn't mention any actual upstarts and depends whose salary you are talking about.
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