By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
It was once called the spaceship, an ode to the 'mothership' inside joke among Apple employees and fans. It is the star of dozens of flying drone videos showing its rapid construction. Now nearing completion, with occupancy beginning in April, the Norman Foster designed structure known as Campus 2, will now be known as Apple Park.
Considered by many to be Steve Jobs' last legacy to Apple, the 175-acre campus, will be ready for employees to begin occupying in April. The process of moving more than 12,000 people will take over six months, and construction of the buildings and park lands is scheduled to continue through the summer.
The company is honouring their founder, who would have turned 62 this Friday, February 24. By naming the 1,000 seat auditorium as the Steve Jobs Theater.
A render of the Steve Jobs Theatre at Apple Park in Cupertino
Expected to be the venue for future Apple Events and launches, the 1,000-seat auditorium is a 20-foot-tall glass cylinder, 165 feet in diameter, supporting a metallic carbon-fibre roof. Apple says that the Steve Jobs Theater is situated atop a hill — one of the highest points within Apple Park — overlooking meadows and the main building.
The completion of Apple Park is a realization of Jobs' dream. His last public appearance was to pitch the project to Cupertino city officials. Apple Park was built on land purchased from HP and the design, which required special glass and materials to be invented specially for the building, aims to integrate office space with the surrounding orchards and Californian vistas.
“Steve’s vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment. We’ve achieved one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world and the campus will run entirely on renewable energy.”
“Steve was exhilarated, and inspired, by the California landscape, by its light and its expansiveness. It was his favourite setting for thought. Apple Park captures his spirit uncannily well,” said Laurene Powell Jobs. “He would have flourished, as the people of Apple surely will, on this luminously designed campus.”
Apple Park will also include a visitors centre with an Apple Store and cafe open to the public, a 100,000-square-foot fitness centre for Apple employees, secure research and development facilities and the Steve Jobs Theater. The parklands offer two miles of walking and running paths for employees, plus an orchard, meadow and pond within the ring’s interior grounds.
Designed in collaboration with Foster + Partners, Apple Park replaces 5 million-square-feet of asphalt and concrete with grassy fields and over 9,000 native and drought-resistant trees, and is powered by 100 percent renewable energy. With 17 megawatts of rooftop solar, Apple Park will run one of the largest on-site solar energy installations in the world. It is also the site of the world’s largest naturally ventilated building, projected to require no heating or air conditioning for nine months of the year.