new apple campus

cupertino, ca

12.8m sqft, 12k employees, former hp campus site

 

 

 

 

 

april

 

 

august

 

 

render

 

 

 

Wow, talk about promoting a self contained corporate culture.

 

Somewhere, Peter Lewis is jealous.

So did the render just exclude the sea of parking lots, or do they actually have some sort of innovative parking system?

So did the render just exclude the sea of parking lots, or do they actually have some sort of innovative parking system?

 

Probably either under or part of the building.  The latter is what Lewis intended to do if he ever went downtown.

 

I'm surprised they didn't modify it slightly to resemble their logo.

It seems like such a mistake given tech workers' preference for urban areas. Apple should have built a big skyscraper in San Francisco or Oakland instead of building this sprawl monstrosity. A vacant lot near a BART station in Downtown Oakland would have been perfect for a new tallest building in the city for a fraction the cost of most other Bay Area office markets. And that Apple logo could be lit up bright and dominate over the skyline.

It seems like such a mistake given tech workers' preference for urban areas. Apple should have built a big skyscraper in San Francisco or Oakland instead of building this sprawl monstrosity. A vacant lot near a BART station in Downtown Oakland would have been perfect for a new tallest building in the city for a fraction the cost of most other Bay Area office markets. And that Apple logo could be lit up bright and dominate over the skyline.

 

I don't get it.  Apple is a big enough deal to do whatever they want and they decided on this.  Look at how hopelessly tired Microsoft's campus looks in suburban Bellevue.  This is the same thing.   

 

 

 

It seems like such a mistake given tech workers' preference for urban areas. Apple should have built a big skyscraper in San Francisco or Oakland instead of building this sprawl monstrosity. A vacant lot near a BART station in Downtown Oakland would have been perfect for a new tallest building in the city for a fraction the cost of most other Bay Area office markets. And that Apple logo could be lit up bright and dominate over the skyline.

 

I don't get it.  Apple is a big enough deal to do whatever they want and they decided on this.  Look at how hopelessly tired Microsoft's campus looks in suburban Bellevue.  This is the same thing. 

 

Maybe it's the kind of deal where the biggest most grandiose example of something is done right before tastes change- in this case a suburban office HQ. 

 

But I bet it is so loaded with amenities it would be awesome to work there, and they do some things that may not have been possible in a downtown setting.  Plus there's all the gentrification heat in SF (maybe that affects downtown Oakland too?) that perhaps they didn't want to deal with politically.

 

So did the render just exclude the sea of parking lots, or do they actually have some sort of innovative parking system?

 

Some underground parking, but that dark rectangle all the way in the back of the lot is a 5k+ parking structure

 

 

The could have up and moved to Portland or Las Vegas and would have had no problem recruiting talent and could have been the king of either of those two cities.  Instead they're blocking the view of a boring neighborhood with pine trees. 

 

 

It seems like such a mistake given tech workers' preference for urban areas. Apple should have built a big skyscraper in San Francisco or Oakland instead of building this sprawl monstrosity. A vacant lot near a BART station in Downtown Oakland would have been perfect for a new tallest building in the city for a fraction the cost of most other Bay Area office markets. And that Apple logo could be lit up bright and dominate over the skyline.

 

As I mentioned, they seem to embrace a self contained, perhaps even insular culture.  Much like Progressive Insurance here.  If that tower had been built on PBL's terms, urbanists would be complaining about it being an island, much like Fort Renaissance in Detroit.  When a company is like that, why go for the expensive real estate.

 

 

It seems like such a mistake given tech workers' preference for urban areas. Apple should have built a big skyscraper in San Francisco or Oakland instead of building this sprawl monstrosity. A vacant lot near a BART station in Downtown Oakland would have been perfect for a new tallest building in the city for a fraction the cost of most other Bay Area office markets. And that Apple logo could be lit up bright and dominate over the skyline.

 

 

I don't get it.  Apple is a big enough deal to do whatever they want and they decided on this.  Look at how hopelessly tired Microsoft's campus looks in suburban Bellevue.  This is the same thing.   

 

 

 

 

 

what don't you get? jobs and gates are hardcore boomer era guys. so they are strictly suburban minded. my bro-in-law worked on gates house putting a fake salmon run in. so there is another example of how they think. thank god that whole era and its dublin, oh's and tract mansions with cathedral ceilings are dying off. well, to be nicer about it, at least their influence about stuff like this is otherwise generally fading away pretty fast.

 

Parking is also under the "spaceship"

 

http://www.cupertino.org/inc/pdf/apple/SitePlan-Submittal2.pdf

 

 

For once I have to kind of agree with E Rocc.  Apple is and has always been a very insular and secretive company.  This building is an obvious expression of that.  If they're going to build an isolated fortress then at least they're not doing it in the middle of downtown.  I still think the building is a turd, but it's not surprising given the corporate culture. 

At some point in the not-so-distant-future this campus will look as clumsy as the Microsoft campus, although at least that campus can expand or contract without people noticing much.  This thing is going to look ridiculous if they either build more buildings nearby or have to abandon large sections of it if the company starts drifting downhill.

Apple is already drifting downhill.  This design is a perfect reflection of that.

Apple is already drifting downhill.  This design is a perfect reflection of that.

 

I've heard that one before....

 

Seriously, they've always tried to appeal to the iconoclasts.  If there really is a trend toward urban living among tech types, maybe they are looking for the people who are "different".  Or they'll just run Google type buses from the city.

For once I have to kind of agree with E Rocc.  Apple is and has always been a very insular and secretive company.  This building is an obvious expression of that.  If they're going to build an isolated fortress then at least they're not doing it in the middle of downtown.  I still think the building is a turd, but it's not surprising given the corporate culture. 

 

Sorry about that, man.  :)

 

It ties into a conversation we've been having for years about Progressive.  They are the same way to a degree.  Whenever someone wishes they'd move downtown en masse, I point this out.  You're right, if you want a bustling active city, you don't want forts like the Renaissance Center.

Apple is already drifting downhill.  This design is a perfect reflection of that.

 

I've heard that one before....

 

Seriously, they've always tried to appeal to the iconoclasts.  If there really is a trend toward urban living among tech types, maybe they are looking for the people who are "different".  Or they'll just run Google type buses from the city.

Yeah, you probably heard it when they did go downhill in the late 90s.  Then Steve Jobs came back and completely changed the course of the company.  That won't be happening this time.

 

http://bgr.com/2014/07/01/android-market-share-2014/

I'm surprised nobody posted this yet…maybe the iPhone 7 will also be a drone. 

Apple is staying loyal to Cupertino. Having their headquarters there made sense before, and while it may be a legacy of a suburban-focused age of offices, it works for them. It works for many companies in SV. And there's already a ton of resentment towards the tech companies driving up real estate prices in San Francisco - how much worse would it be if they built the spaceship vertically, downtown? And losing Apple's 15k employees would be the end of Cupertino. SF is doing fine without an Apple Tower.

 

As for market share, how about share of profits? Apple obliterates the competition. I own and use an Android device, and it works fine, and there are good reasons to choose either OS. Even Windows is becoming a legit competitor - slowly. But Apple has a crazy, fanatical focus on the user experience and it continues to deliver huge piles of money to their door. The increasing market share of Android will continue because of affordability, especially in China. And in the US, people may argue at length that Apple customers are fools for paying the margins they do, but as long as the customer is happy, it doesn't matter.

 

>>Finally, and most impressively, is Apple’s share of global mobile phone industry profit. Despite accounting for just 10% of phone sales, Apple pulls in between 60% and 70% of all phone industry profit thanks to its sky-high margins that rivals can’t even dream of approaching.<<

 

http://bgr.com/2014/03/17/iphone-profit-share-market-share/

Apple is staying loyal to Cupertino. Having their headquarters there made sense before, and while it may be a legacy of a suburban-focused age of offices, it works for them. It works for many companies in SV. And there's already a ton of resentment towards the tech companies driving up real estate prices in San Francisco - how much worse would it be if they built the spaceship vertically, downtown? And losing Apple's 15k employees would be the end of Cupertino. SF is doing fine without an Apple Tower.

 

As for market share, how about share of profits? Apple obliterates the competition. I own and use an Android device, and it works fine, and there are good reasons to choose either OS. Even Windows is becoming a legit competitor - slowly. But Apple has a crazy, fanatical focus on the user experience and it continues to deliver huge piles of money to their door. The increasing market share of Android will continue because of affordability, especially in China. And in the US, people may argue at length that Apple customers are fools for paying the margins they do, but as long as the customer is happy, it doesn't matter.

 

>>Finally, and most impressively, is Apple’s share of global mobile phone industry profit. Despite accounting for just 10% of phone sales, Apple pulls in between 60% and 70% of all phone industry profit thanks to its sky-high margins that rivals can’t even dream of approaching.<<

 

http://bgr.com/2014/03/17/iphone-profit-share-market-share/

 

As long as Android remains incompatible with iTunes, they are at a severe competitive disadvantage.  I am pretty much an iPhone loyalist for that reason alone.

Play has plenty of Apps to compete with Itunes.  I can get Itunes music over to my Android phone easily.

 

Personally I would hate using Itunes to manage my music on my device. I'd rather use Windows explorer and manage what music I have on my device which I can do just fine in Android

For once I have to kind of agree with E Rocc.  Apple is and has always been a very insular and secretive company.  This building is an obvious expression of that.  If they're going to build an isolated fortress then at least they're not doing it in the middle of downtown.  I still think the building is a turd, but it's not surprising given the corporate culture. 

 

Sorry about that, man.  :)

 

It ties into a conversation we've been having for years about Progressive.  They are the same way to a degree.  Whenever someone wishes they'd move downtown en masse, I point this out.  You're right, if you want a bustling active city, you don't want forts like the Renaissance Center.

 

you got that right. the port authority google offices bldg in my neighborhood has the fancy pants lunchroom that has pretty directly put the pre-existing food businesses across the street out of business because nobody leaves the mothership.

They're going to have a lot of separate R&D buildings on this campus that you tend to not notice because of the way the artistic renderings are done. Probably couldn't get them into a vertical HQ, and so you'd be splitting up some operations that they'd rather not.

 

We have an Apple thread where some of this other conversation is probably more relevant, but Apple maintains their margins based on being perceived as something special. They cannot afford for the collective perception to change too much, or that model falls apart. More and more that perception is heavily reliant upon the Apple Stores, and not in the product itself. The only notable exception being the fingerprint reader.

This reminds me of the TV show Space:1999

 

 

I was following a discussion on Twitter a few days ago where people were talking about why Apple is so slow at hiring new employees. Many of the responses were similar to these:

 

"Apple once considered hiring me but dropped it when I refused to move my entire family down to Cupertino."

 

"I’ve turned down Apple recruiters because I don’t want to commute from SF to Cupertino."

 

So, yes, I think their doubling-down on Cupertino, instead of moving to an urban area, will ultimately hurt them. Good luck trying to sell the spaceship to another corporation.