Apple’s HQ Plans: Views of the Ultramodern Site Apple Will Call Home

by Nathan Eddy

The glass and steel ring that comprises the main building, which co-founder Steve Jobs (who passed away in October 2011) likened to a spaceship, has a futuristic sheen. British architect Norman Foster designed the building.

This image shows Apple employees entering a sleek underground parking garage, which sports a green roof covered with grasses, small trees and other plants—part of Apple’s green building agenda to reduce its carbon footprint.

Apple has committed to making the new campus as environmentally friendly as possible. To do so, the company says that 80 percent of the space will be landscaped and feature 7,000 trees, dramatically increasing the number of trees currently on the land.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the design renderings strongly recall the whitewashed, ultra-minimal aesthetic found in Apple’s retail stores across the globe. It’s not yet known if the company intends to adorn the building with any other artwork other than its own product ads.

Due to the nature of the building’s design, there will be plenty of open space in the middle of the building for employees and visitors to mix and mingle, or grab lunch. The building will be able to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, thousands more than the company’s current headquarters can.

Designed to host press events and other special announcements from Apple, this rendering actually just shows the ultra-minimal entry to the venue. The events will be held downstairs, underground.

Clearly designed to impress, the entrance to the pavilion is a large, seemingly column-free open space with no furniture visible. While the daring design is undoubtedly sleek, one wonders where people would have the opportunity to sit—or even how those thin glass walls hold the roof up.

In addition to the main building and the subterranean pavilion, Apple is planning several amenities for its employees, including a glass-walled fitness center. The campus is being touted as “one of the most environmentally sustainable projects on this scale anywhere in the world.”

This rendering shows a cavernous cafeteria with double-height ceilings and plenty of light, lending it loft-style qualities. The dining area is reportedly 60,000 square feet.

Apple’s headquarters will be a massive, glass structure. The four-storey building has a 1,615-foot diameter, making it wider than the Pentagon and with a circumference of nearly 1 mile. However, Steve Jobs had said none of the glass would be straight. In fact, he said before the Cupertino city council in 2011 that every piece of glass in the building would be curved.