Snapchat Map Reveals Apple Park Photos, And It Looks Great
The campus is coming together.
Apple Park, the company’s new spaceship-shaped campus in Cupertino, California, is taking shape. Ahead of the project’s completion, lucky Snapchat users have been sharing up-close shots of both the interior and exterior, through both an “Apple Park” public story and the new Snap Maps feature. Although drone footage and marketing shots have given some idea of how the building looks, these are some of the clearest glimpses yet of what working life will be like for the 12,000 people employed at the new building.
One of the last projects Steve Jobs worked on before he passed away, the building is a four-storey, 2.8-million square foot ring shape of around one mile circumference with wide green spaces on either side. The construction budget for the 175-acre campus skyrocketed to a staggering $5 billion in 2013, leading the company to explore ways to cut costs.
Reddit user Corbinq27 shared their discovery of the public snaps Wednesday morning.
A shot of the interior.
In June 2011, four months before he passed away, Jobs outlined his vision of the future campus to the Cupertino City Council.
“It’s a pretty amazing building. Looks a little like a spaceship landed.” Jobs told the council. “It’s a circle! And so it’s curved all the way around. As you know, if you build things, this is not the cheapest way to build something. There is not a straight piece of glass in the building. It’s all curved.”
How the campus looks at night.
This is not the first time the public has caught a glimpse of the campus outside of Apple press materials. Last year, Duncan Sinfield shared a stunning drone overview video of the campus under construction, while last month Matthew Roberts shared 4K footage of the campus as it came together.
The sun illuminates the campus roof.
Some of the shots reveal the rooftop solar panels, totalling 17 megawatts of power to provide 75 percent of the campus’ energy. The ultimate goal is for the whole campus to be powered by renewable energy, and its design makes it one of the world’s largest naturally ventilated buildings. For nine months of the year, it will require no heating or air conditioning.
A view from the roof.
Apple has placed over 9,000 native and drought-resistant trees both inside and out, replacing the five million square feet of asphalt that previously stood on the site with grassy fields.
A view from the interior.
The six-year project is coming to its end, but reportedly not everyone is happy. The open plan office space has been a source of contention inside the company, according to a recent podcast from Apple blogger John Gruber, who clarified that the story is “thirdhand” and “I cannot confirm it.”
Overlooking the seating area.
“When he [Apple vice president Johny Srouji] was shown the floor plans, he was more or less just ‘F—- that, f—- you, f—- this, this is bulls—-,’” Gruber said. “And they built his team their own building, off to the side on the campus … My understanding is that that building was built because Srouji was like, ‘F—— this, my team isn’t working like this.’”
The side of the building.
Not everyone will work in the campus though, as a recent report claims Apple has around 25,000 people working in Silicon Valley in total.
