Apple's 'spaceship' campus larger than Pentagon, Empire State Building

The iPhone maker's proposed facility, dubbed a "spaceship" because of its circular design, was put to scale on Tuesday by Mac Observer. The details were made available last week, when the City of Cupertino provided more information about Apple's 2.8 million square-foot circular office building.

The diameter of Apple's new campus would be 1,615 feet, which would span farther than the Pentagon's diameter of 1,566 feet. The distance across the massive circle is also greater than the height of the Empire State Building, at 1,250 feet.

In a comparison graphic, other objects were laid over the plans for Apple's campus to provide perspective. It shows the facility with a cruise ship, U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier, a blimp, a World War II battleship, and a supertanker laid over them.

Apple's spaceship campus stretches farther across in than all of those objects. Longest object included in the illustration is a supertanker; the "Seawise Giant" tanker was the longest ship ever built, at 1,504 feet.

The new office, dubbed "Apple Campus 2," would comprise about 2.8 million square feet, and would include an auditorium that would hold 1,000 people, and new research facilities including 300,000 square feet. The facility would be able to support up to 13,000 employees.

The plans were first revealed by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs himself in June, when he made an appearance at a Cupertino City Council meeting to pitch the project. He described the main office building as looking "a little like a spaceship landed."

Though formal approval must still be obtained, Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong has publicly said there is "no chance" that the council would not approve the structure. Neighboring cities have also given positive responses on the proposed project.

Apple would build its mega-campus on a 150-acre property the company already owns in Cupertino. The land was partially acquired from rival device maker Hewlett-Packard, who vacated its 98-acre campus in the summer of 2010.

If all goes according to plan, Apple hopes to open its new campus in 2015. Until then, the company is said to have leased 373,000 square feet of office space in Cupertino to house 1,300 workers.