Mike Wuerthele
While a company move-in date has not yet been established, the latest drone flight footage from the construction site shows a near-complete solar installation on several structures including the main headquarters, and depicts the largest carbon fiber roof in the world on the auditorium.
The underground auditorium was previously not enclosed all the way around, but is now nearly completely clad. The largest carbon fiber roof in the world has been uncovered, and is shown in the video.
Apple's main research and development building appears functionally complete from the exterior, with a full set of HVAC equipment installed for the first time. Significant progress on the Tantau Avenue research suite is shown as well.
The 20,000 car main parking structure appears to be complete with a full solar installation adorning the roof.
The main "spaceship" headquarters is completely covered in glass panels, and the solar assemblies on the roof also appears complete. Additionally, adjacent landscaping is being fleshed out
While a great deal of work remains on the entire campus, a large amount of work has been done on landscaping, and the area in the center of the "spaceship" since the last video in October, and this most recent one. the Structures in interior of donut underway, much work remains
In 2011, Steve Jobs announced the project to the world, saying over 12,000 employees would work in the 2.8-million-square-foot spaceship-styled structure. Edible landscaping, walking paths, and other "green" measures are being implemented during construction, to minimize the overall impact the facility makes on the environment.
Apple's related Phase 2 project adds additional workspace adjacent to the main headquarters, and includes a renewable energy-powered small data center.
A new micro-grid installed on the campus is reportedly capable of handling about 75 percent of the facility's power requirements during work hours, supplemented by Bloom Energy-provided fuel cells. Bloom Energy provided similar cells to Apple previously for use at the North Carolina data center.
The City of Cupertino recently announced delays for the Campus 2 project, indicating that main construction won't be done until the beginning of 2017, and that landscaping won't be finished until the second quarter of next year.
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33 Comments
Nice to see this is coming along. Hopefully they can put the finishing touches on it soon and start getting some employees moving in. I can't wait to see it when its completely finished with all the landscaping and everything. Maybe in March or so Apple can do a keynote from their brand new auditorium and release something nice.
It kinda irks me how on other sites people whine and complain about how this is a waste of money and its taking resources away from Apple. This is why they aren't releasing anything, its way over budget, etc. This is complete and utter BS! This should be making Apple BETTER in the long haul. Its not taking any focus away from any team. Its not like the hardware team is sitting there designing something for the new campus, Apple has specific contractors and engineers for this. OS X isn't suffering because of this being built.
What it should do in the end is combine all of the software teams into one section of the building instead of spreading them out over a 2hr drive away sometimes. Put the hardware teams into another section where they can better collaborate on projects, and then since the software team is also in the same building, they can also include them for their important input instead of doing whatever it is they're doing now whether its FaceTime conferences or making team leads drive 1-2hrs to Cupertino and then drive 1-2hrs back, wasting half the day just driving.
I guess some people just don't get it. They want want want and don't care how it gets into their hands. They just want it and want it now. And it better be something they want when it comes out. Everyone knows how to run Apple better than Apple as always (even when Steve was there).
is it legal to fly a drone like that over the building? what if it fails and crashes into the solar panels, etc? the guy leaves his name and contact info so seems like maybe its legal. just surprised.