Apple Park: A look inside Apple’s $5 billion dollar headquarters

8th March, 2021 at 6:49 pm by Declan

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• We first heard about Apple Park back in 2006 from Steve Jobs.
• It was originally estimated to only cost around $500,000,000.
• The yoga studio is covered in specific stone from a quarry that Steve Jobs handpicked.

We first heard about Apple Park back in 2006 from Steve Jobs. Construction on Apple’s new headquarters began back in 2014, taking about four years to build and costing the company over five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000)…billion…with a ‘B’ — making it one of the most expensive buildings in the world.

The campus was originally estimated to cost around half a billion dollars ($500,000,000.00), however just the land cost one hundred and sixty million dollars ($160,000,000.00). In 2011, the price was then revised at a little below three billion dollars ($3,000,000,000.00). In total, the campus would cost Apple a whopping $5,000,000,000.00 — not unthinkable for a company valued at over 2 trillion dollars ($2,000,000,000,000.00).

Steve’s vision is reflected all around us at Apple Park. He would have loved it here, in this place he dreamed up the home and inspiration for Apple’s future innovations.” — Tim Cook

The Ring

Let’s begin with the main building on the campus called ‘The Ring’ — the futuristic spaceship-like building. The Ring is big enough for over twelve-thousand (12,000) of Apple’s employees and is part of over 176 acres of land and is situated in Cupertino, California. Yes, it’s literally made by Apple in California. It would take about fifteen minutes to do an entire lap of The Ring. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind the walk, though, with the spectacular views of the outside thanks to the 36-47 foot-long curved glass panels. Having these panels allows for seamless and panoramic view of the outdoor landscape. In fact the building was designed to be as free flowing as possible to allow for collaboration between employees. However, according to Apple Explained, many employees wrote to tech journalist John Gruber explaining their dissatisfaction with the open working environment. They were allegedly unhappy about the lack of privacy, and that the glass doors were easy to walk into when distracted.

The Ring also houses ‘Caffe Macs’ a singular 58,000 square-foot restaurant allowing for employees to be together and collaborate even on break times. Caffe Macs has four story tall sliding glass doors, taking the title for the largest sliding glass doors in the world. These glass doors slide open into the open green courtyard. The restaurant even has its own Apple Patented pizza box that prevents pizza crust from getting soggy. It has been known that the restaurant’s staff have said they have enough food to feed up to 15,000 people every lunch time.

Eco-Friendly Meets Lifestyle

Apple likes to encourage their 12,000 employees at Apple Park to live a healthy lifestyle. The grounds of Apple Park have 3.2 kilometres of walking and running trails as well as 1,000 grey bikes that can be used. Facilities also include a gym, wellness centre and a handful of basketball and tennis courts.

Apple’s 100,000 square foot fitness and wellness centre is complete with changing rooms, showers, laundry services, team workout rooms and a two-story yoga studio. The yoga studio is covered in specific stone from a quarry that Steve Jobs handpicked in Kansas and carefully distressed to make it like his favourite hotel in Yosemite.

Apple’s designers put major effort into making the buildings fit seamlessly into the local nature landscaping. They did this by planting more than 9,000 trees (overseen by David Myffly who is responsible for Stanford’s campus) and allowing the buildings to only take up around 20% of the 176 acres.

It’s important to note that all of the buildings within Apple Park are very eco-friendly. The Ring is home to one of the largest rooftop solar farms, generating up to 17 megawatts of power — enough to meet up to 75% of the campus’s energy demand in peak times. The rest of the campuses needs are met by the on-site fuel cells that are powered by biofuel or natural gas. The main building doesn’t use traditional heating or cooling for 9 months of the year, it uses a natural ventilation system instead. As well as all of that, they also use low energy LEDs.

Underground

Underneath of The Ring makes use of base isolation, one of the few buildings in the world to do so. Base isolation protects The Ring against the worst of earthquakes, with 692 stainless steel plates to allow the building to shift up to four feet in any direction without causing any structural damage.

Going even deeper, you’ll find an expansive 2 story parking, finished with reflective white tiles and domed ceilings. Not to mention the integrated traffic lights that can be found within the street signs working seamlessly together. There’s also a road network that is purposely hidden from sight to allow for the green space to remain an open bliss. By doing this, Apple has been able to not disturb the landscape too much and keep as much greenery as possible — their main goal with this extensive build.

Also below ground you’ll find the impressive Steve Jobs Theatre. To get to the almost 1,000 seat auditorium you can use the 42 foot, chemically tempered glass elevator. The elevator is considered to be the largest free standing glass elevator on Earth and rotates as it moves up or down, allowing it to only need a singular door.

The Rest of the Campus

Moving away from The Ring now, we can find ourselves two of the research and development facilities, a care clinic and the Visitors Centre — the only building on the campus visitors can enter without a pass.

The Visitors Centre is under one roof but comprises 4 separate sections — a 10,000 square foot Apple Store, a 2,000 square foot cafe, an observation deck and a designated AR experience area.

Apple also added an artificial pond, perfectly circular just like The Ring. You’ll also see a rainbow structure at the head of the rectangular field designed by former Chief Design Officer at Apple, Jonathan Ive. The structure is often used as a stage for speakers and performers.

The most unlikely building in Apple Park is called ‘Glendenning Barn.’ This barn was not part of Apple’s original plans, but because the barn was built in 1916, it was already classified as historical in 2004 so Apple could not demolish it as they first planned. Apple agreed to use the barn as a maintenance building — housing tools and other landscaping materials.

Between the stunning Ring, plentiful recreation centres and iconic Steve Jobs Theatre, Apple Park may be the most spectacular headquarters ever seen and surely attracts both potential employees and the media alike.