Latest Apple Park drone footage shows majority of construction complete

By Mike Wuerthele

The latest drone footage of the Apple Park headquarters shows detail work in progress, and a view of the historic barn, prior to the opening of the facility to employees.

The latest footage, labeled June, but published on Tuesday shows a partially unclad Steve Jobs Theater, and a good overview of the entire site, including the parking garage, continued work on landscaping, and the research facility.

Also detailed is the historic barn on the campus, now in the midst of renovation and nearly ready for foot traffic.

As with footage from earlier in the month, Apple Park still has a long way to go before being fully complete. While Apple may be moving employees in shortly, they will have to contend with landscaping and finish work continuing for what appears to be months, if not a full year.

On Feb. 22, Apple officially named the "spaceship" campus under construction. The entire facility is now called "Apple Park," with the 20-foot tall and 165 foot in diameter glass auditorium honoring one of the founders of the company and named the "Steve Jobs Theater."

Before the massive construction effort started, the area was Hewlett Packard's land, and was essentially completely paved over. Apple's demand for trees is reportedly putting pressure on the local market, forcing contractors to source from outside California. The final tree count is expected to approach 9,000, with apple, apricot, cherry, and persimmon trees dotting the landscape.

An environmentally-friendly design was paramount to Jobs's vision, and Apple's related Phase 2 project adds additional workspace adjacent to the main headquarters, and includes a small data center powered by on-site the on-site solar farm, fuel cells, and other sources of renewable energy.

A new micro-grid installed on the campus is reportedly capable of delivering 17 megawatts of power from solar alone, and handling about 75 percent of the facility's power requirements. The solar installation is supplemented by Bloom Energy-provided fuel cells, similar to those installed at the North Carolina data center.