Exclusive Apple Campus 2 December 2014 aerial tour shows progress on 'spaceship' building, theater, more

Over the last two months, despite the early darkness of winter and unusually torrential rains, work on Apple Campus 2 has continued on an aggressive schedule.

The bare, compacted soil fill of the excavated spaceship ring structure is now completely covered, with concrete joists now being laid out to build a floor structure.

Earth ramps extending down into the ring floor are all gone; vehicles access is now provided through channels that will eventually connect to a rebuilt Pruneridge roadway that ducks underground to send cars beneath the surface to either the basement of the ring or to the two large parking structures at the south end of the site.

Multimillion dollar theater

The site of Apple's underground theater is also more clearly defined, surrounded by a bank of fill that will eventually be covered with trees.

Construction permits indicate that the auditorium complex will cost around $161 million to complete.

The theater site will include a 120,000 sq ft "assembly space" with seating for 1,000, kitchen facilities and a large lobby area. In September, the theater excavation was a shallow pit (below).

Ring prototype building now gone

Behind the theater area, Apple maintains a series of buildings along Tantau Avenue, although some of these structures now appear to have been vacated for eventual demolition.

A prototype building constructed to model the permanent ring structure (pictured above) is now gone, just months after it was first exclusively photographed by AppleInsider.

Parking structure rising rapidly

The first of two massive parking structures, which was bare land in September and was just beginning to rise in October, is now nearly assembled up the the third floor (shown below).

Granted final approval just over one year ago, Apple's Campus 2 project is rapidly moving toward its occupancy goal of 2016.

Apple's cofounder Steve Jobs unveiled the huge project in 2011, noting that the central 2.8-million-square-foot "spaceship" structure would house 12,000 employees, surrounded by bucolic landscaping including orchards of fruit trees and other greenery, featuring open space and walking paths to reclaim most of the 150-acre plot previously covered by asphalt parking lots.

See previous coverage on AppleInsider of Apple Campus 2 and the current Infinite Loop headquarters, or our other articles on drones. Viewers interested in our B&H Photo-sponsored DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ v3.0 drone that makes this arial footage possible can read more about the device or pick one up here.