Over the past years whenever Apple debuts something new to the public, the easiest assumption is that the new thing is a gadget, thanks to the practiced flair of their late founder and CEO Steve Jobs. From MacBooks, to iPods, to iPhones, to iPads, so on and so forth, Apple could be counted on to dazzle electronics consumers enough to buy their wide variety of products, as well as getting these same to somehow accelerate shifts in various industries aside from consumer gadgets, from music to other media for instance. Well, now this computing and electronics global giant is preparing to unveil their latest new thing.
In a way, it can be considered a product of sorts, though it doesn’t come with a screen. It’s much bigger too, the size of a building even because that’s exactly what it is.
Apple Park
Starting this April, employees of Apple will finally begin working in the newly finished campus of their US corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California. This comes after nearly six years since Jobs, before his death, showed the world his plans for the company’s new home, to be dubbed Apple Park. Perhaps the most striking feature of the new HQ campus is the fact that it’s shaped like a circle, or as Jobs himself calls it, a “spaceship.” With an area of 175 acres, the spaceship-shaped main building covers 2.8 million square feet using curved glass to keep the sleek shape envisioned.
In keeping with Apple’s green initiative, the campus will have plenty of trees and greenery, not to mention all power for the structures will be drawn from 100% renewable energy.
But workspace isn’t the only feature of Apple Park. It will also come with its own massive fitness center for the employees’ benefit, and in keeping with the complex’s additional function as a monumental tribute to Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, there will be a prominently appointed auditorium named in his honor, the Steve Jobs Theatre.
In a statement given Wednesday January 22, Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is taking time off from from trying to work with President Donald Trump's policies, noted that the company is footing most of the project’s construction costs, and added that its goal according to Jobs will be at the forefront saying, "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."
Worth it
Mind you, the Cupertino Apple Park not only took half a decade to complete, but the campus also went over Jobs’ original budget estimates of $3 billion, adding up to almost $5 billion instead. Then again Apple is pretty loaded thanks to their products ($250 billion at last count), so it does seem no big deal. What is a big deal is that Apple executives are fully planning to push their new HQ campus as an actual international tourist attraction in California, a national landmark to Steve Jobs and his brainchild, with amenities like the auditorium, visitor’s center, and large public café to go with it.
