CUPERTINO | Apple Corporate Headquarters

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Apple builds a suburban lemon


Read More: http://newurbannetwork.com/news-opin...suburban-lemon

Tech companies have been largely unapologetic about their preference for campus style office parks in suburban settings and usually dont view the placement and design of their headquarters' as an opportunity to make statements bemoaning sprawl.

This should come as no surprise.

What were the folks at newurbannetwork.com hoping for? A romanticized TOD surrounded by parking lots in Cupertino? Its certain that these companies have no desire to be in big city CBDs perhaps precisely because they DONT WANT to be in that kind of environment, which is their perogative. The article's bit about the desire of 30-somethings for a more urban environment in which to work in is something I have never seen manifested very much in Silicon Valley having worked there on several projects over the last 10-15 years.

Were I the majority shareholder of Apple, theyd be building a sleek 1,500 ft tall HQ in DT San Francisco but alas, I have no such power. Sometimes I think we get too drunk off our own kool aid. Just saying.

[vandelay]

Norman Foster is known to be a bit of a magpie with his designs. GCHQ (UK's NSA) in Cheltenham, UK, designed by Gensler looks familiar:



Apple HQ:

[jtk1519]

Apple Spaceship Campus Reportedly $2 Billion Over Budget Before Construction Has Begun
April 5, 2013

It’s expected that constructing a building ends up costing more than initial estimates predicted. After all, there are countless factors that figure into construction costs, from labor to material availability to seasonal considerations. Still, the final tab usually isn’t unreasonably inflated — unless, of course, you’re one of the world’s top architects (Norman Foster) and the project is the new Apple campus in Cupertino, California. The spaceship seen round the world, Apple Campus II is nearly $2 billion over budget already, and that’s before a single one of the design’s patented curved glass panes has even been fabricated. Continue.

Foster + Partners released the first plans of Apple’s new HQ nearly two years ago; then the project carried a massive $3 billion price tag. Today, estimates have peaked at $5 billion (yay, arithmetic), an unsettling, mind-addling figure that, according to a Bloomberg report, reflects the expense of the design’s more novel features . The aforementioned glass panes, which Jobs praised for being completely curved, have never been attempted before says Seele GhmbH, the German firm charged with their fabrication. An architect from the company says it’s going to produce “ something like 6 kilometers of glass,” far above the scales Seele is accustomed to working at. (“Normally we talk in terms of square feet.”)

...

http://www.architizer.com/en_us/blog...ion-has-begun/

[denizen467]

^ Maybe Tim Cook is planning on using this as a reason to kill this dumb idea?

[mthd]

Originally Posted by vandelay

Norman Foster is known to be a bit of a magpie with his designs. GCHQ (UK's NSA) in Cheltenham, UK, designed by Gensler looks familiar:



Apple HQ:

foster copying gensler? that's rich. does armani copy the gap?

[ltsmotorsport]

Originally Posted by denizen467

^ Maybe Tim Cook is planning on using this as a reason to kill this dumb idea?

Hopefully so. This is truly a dumb idea, and one that is 20 years past it's prime. A more urban campus design would not only be great to attract new talent for Apple, but be a huge attractor for Cupertino in sprawl-central silicon valley.

[TechTalkGuy]

Here's the famous video of the late Steve Jobs presenting his proposal to the city council:

• Video Link

[vandelay]

Originally Posted by mthd

foster copying gensler? that's rich. does armani copy the gap?

The Gap: 1969
Armani Jeans: 1981

Considering the prestige of the commission in his home country, there's almost no chance that Foster wasn't aware of the design. Foster's brand name doesn't mean he doesn't copy, excuse me, "find inspiration" in prior buildings.

In any case, it doesn't look like Apple HQ is going to go forward. It would look horrible for a corporation to spend billions on a vanity project when they've already been criticized for underpaying their retail workers and relying on despairing Chinese labor.

[mhays]

Amazon uses its downtown+nearby headquarters as a recruting tool. So does Microsoft, which has I'd guess about 1.5msf in Downtown Bellevue in addition to its larger presence in Redmond. Many cities have large tech presences in their downtowns and other urban districts. It's not that tech likes suburbia...it's that some companies such as Apple like suburbia.

[mthd]

Originally Posted by vandelay

The Gap: 1969
Armani Jeans: 1981

Considering the prestige of the commission in his home country, there's almost no chance that Foster wasn't aware of the design. Foster's brand name doesn't mean he doesn't copy, excuse me, "find inspiration" in prior buildings.

if you want to argue about a metaphor which was pretty clear, go ahead. I don't think anyone would question the prestige/quality relationship between Armani and the Gap.

Like all great architects, Foster has explored a number of themes repeatedly throughout his career. Idealized geometries are one, present in projects as disparate as the Gherkin and the building he did for Mclaren.

You might as well say he copied the Pentagon, or the designers of the Pentagon copies traditional Tu Lou from Fujian, who copied....

It shows a tremendous lack of respect (and understanding) for the work of someone who everyone would agree is one of THE great architects of the 20th/21st centuries to say he copied a Gensler office park.

[mthd]

Originally Posted by mhays

Amazon uses its downtown+nearby headquarters as a recruting tool. So does Microsoft, which has I'd guess about 1.5msf in Downtown Bellevue in addition to its larger presence in Redmond. Many cities have large tech presences in their downtowns and other urban districts. It's not that tech likes suburbia...it's that some companies such as Apple like suburbia.

they don't necessarily like suburbia. They like horizontal development - because horizontal development puts many many many more people on the same floor. It's seen as important to collaboration. It's also (normally) cheaper, and there are some who believe a less distracting external environment yields higher productivity. In downtown SF workers would leave for lunch, coffee, happy hour at a much higher rate... Good for the city, perhaps bad for the bottom line.

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by mthd

higher productivity. In downtown SF workers would leave for lunch, coffee, happy hour at a much higher rate... Good for the city, perhaps bad for the bottom line.

True story: The husband of one of my wife's coworkers (in their Silicon Valley office) moved out of their house and left divorce papers on the kitchen table. She didn't see them for a month and a half.

Maybe Apple should add a dormitory to their campus. It's where Silicon Valley high tech is headed - Apple can once again be the industry leader.

[vandelay]

Originally Posted by mthd

if you want to argue about a metaphor which was pretty clear, go ahead. I don't think anyone would question the prestige/quality relationship between Armani and the Gap.

You might as well say he copied the Pentagon, or the designers of the Pentagon copies traditional Tu Lou from Fujian, who copied....

It shows a tremendous lack of respect (and understanding) for the work of someone who everyone would agree is one of THE great architects of the 20th/21st centuries to say he copied a Gensler office park.

Your argument boils down to 'prestige' and the appeal to celebrity and popularity to defend Foster (or Armani, for that matter). Accept the factual proposition that Foster's design has an obvious and contemporary antecedent, regardless of your personal biases regarding various architects. You'll also have to accept that others aren't so eager to supplicate themselves or their judgment to the same things as you do.

[mthd]

Originally Posted by vandelay

Your argument boils down to 'prestige' and the appeal to celebrity and popularity to defend Foster (or Armani, for that matter). Accept the factual proposition that Foster's design has an obvious and contemporary antecedent, regardless of your personal biases regarding various architects. You'll also have to accept that others aren't so eager to supplicate themselves or their judgment to the same things as you do.

my argument isn't about prestige, except in the fact that prestige is earned. it's about a nearly 50 year history of incredibly innovative practice. foster is a pritzker prize winner, two time stirling prize winner, amongst a zillion other achievements for some of the modern world's most noteworthy buildings. i don't accept the proposition that foster "copied" a completely banal donut shaped circular office campus (surrounding by parking and uninspired ancillary buildings) any more than he copied a hundred other circular courtyard buildings in the world.

i'm also not disparaging gensler - i have many friends and former colleagues who work at gensler and the firm does good work. but to say without any first-hand experience of foster's process and the history of this project that his firm is being a magpie displays a total lack of appreciation for modern architecture.

[vandelay]

Originally Posted by mthd

but to say without any first-hand experience of foster's process and the history of this project that his firm is being a magpie displays a total lack of appreciation for modern architecture.

Do you have any 'first-hand experience of Foster's process' regarding this building, or are you just trying to browbeat someone for having a differing opinion than you?

I wonder how you, who is so quick to defer to awards and popularity, would react if a renowned architect accused Foster of plagiarism, like Santiago Calatrava for example (see Reichstag dome).

[spyguy]

I don't see how Apple will abandon this project now. Even if it is a misguided endeavor, they'll continue on just to save face. 1) Killing the project goes directly against Jobs' vision (a big no-no) 2) This project is widely known around the Bay area and world by now, so changing course would be the talk of the town and probably spook investors/analysts 3) Everyone else (Samsung, Google, Facebook, etc.) is planning elaborate new campuses or buildings nearby

[mthd]

Originally Posted by vandelay

Do you have any 'first-hand experience of Foster's process' regarding this building, or are you just trying to browbeat someone for having a differing opinion than you?

I wonder how you, who is so quick to defer to awards and popularity, would react if a renowned architect accused Foster of plagiarism, like Santiago Calatrava for example (see Reichstag dome).

if you have some facts to support that his inspiration was the gensler campus you introduced into the discussion, share them. until then, someone with a career as extraordinary as foster is innocent until proven guilty, especially when he has himself explored similar themes repeatedly.

i've met the man - very briefly, i've heard him speak at length, many times, several of my colleagues worked for him for years, and i've studied his work as much as any other architect practicing on large-scale work has. not that it matters on the internet, but i'm a licensed architect who has designed or been part of the design team for dozens of large scale projects. my opinions here are my own and not those of the firm i'm a part of, but i'm quite certain virtually every established architect i know would say that foster's high profile work is his own. not cribbed from gensler or anyone else.

[vandelay]

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/...roval-november

CUPERTINO -- Apple's (AAPL) "spaceship" campus in Cupertino could receive final approval by city officials before the end of November, and is slated to be completed in 2016, the city said Thursday.

As for the continuing discussion of Foster's cribbing of prior designs, here's another example (Rem Koolhas):
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/koolh...087236.article

[Design-mind]

Looks like the Apple Headquarters have made it to final approvals. Hopefully we have an SSP fan in Cupertino to give us few photo updates. (iphone of course!)

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/...o-city-council

[vandelay]

The black roof really makes it look like a Chinese round house: