Apple has announced the official name of its second spaceship campus – the Apple Park. The company’s new state-of-the-art campus in Cupertino, California, will be ready for employees by the beginning of Q2 2017(April), however construction works will continue through the summer.
More than 12,000 employees including Apple CEO, Tim Cook will be moving offices over six months from the Apple Campus One Infinite Loop campus. The new campus occupies 175-acre (71 hectares) of land and was designed in collaboration with British firm Foster + Partners.
Located in the heart of the Santa Clara Valley, the main 2.8 million-square-foot main building on the Apple Park has a giant ring-shaped complex design and is clad entirely in the world’s largest panels of curved glass. It will also run one of the largest on-site solar energy installations in the world.
In addition to the main building, Apple Park will have a a 1000-seat auditorium, located atop a hill – one of the highest points within Apple Park and named after the company’s founder and former CEO – Steve Jobs, to honour his memory. The Steve Jobs Theater will be entered via a 20-foot-tall glass cylinder that measures 165 feet in diameter and topped with a metallic carbon-fibre roof.
The campus will also include a visitors center with an Apple Store, a cafetaria, walking and running paths for employees, a 100,000-square-foot fitness center for Apple employees and secure research and development facilities.
Commenting on the new campus, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said:
“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. 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.”
