Mike Wuerthele
The latest round of drone footage shot in October of Apple Park demonstrates a fully complete visitor's center, plus the massive effort it has taken to bring the landscaping up to where it stands currently.
Published on Monday, the latest footage shows new paths paved through Apple Park, winding throughout the thousands of trees on the facility that was once a vast expanse of concrete.
Far more landscaping is complete in the facility, with much of the heavy equipment gone. Additionally, it appears that more of the truck fleet used to build the facility is being staged for removal, suggesting that the very final phases of the project are underway.
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.
Apple held its first official event in Steve Jobs Theater on Sept. 12 with the unveiling of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X.
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13 Comments
Seems out of place for Apple to be paving paths using asphalt - not exactly a green material and visually creates a bad look against all the natural plantings.
One thing that I think would make Apple Park a lot nicer is a nice lookout station where visitors can get a good view of the ring.
I don't believe the current visitors center offers a very good view of the campus.
These lookout towers are an iconic element of our national parks and would serve a very useful function at Apple Park.
I'm sure if anyone can build a really beautiful lookout tower, it would be Apple.