William Gallagher
Previously unseen images of the interior of Apple Park have now been revealed by the company's design team, as they discuss working in the iconic building.
Four years after Jony Ive described Apple Park to Wallpaper*, the publication has returned to learn how the completed building feels to its design staff. Evans Hankey, vice president of industrial design, and Alan Dye, vice president of human interface design, say that it's only after a few years that they've come to appreciate the building.
"It's just so quiet and calming," Hankey told Wallpaper*. "We never really understood what that would mean for us until we'd been here for a while. It's been designed for serendipitous meetings as well as collaboration."
The design team moved in to Apple Park three years ago, and the intention from the start was that the whole team would work together.
"We can have industrial designers sat next to a font designer," said Jony Ive back in 2017, "sat next to a sound designer, who is sat next to a motion graphics expert, who is sat next to a colour designer, who is sat next to somebody who is developing objects in soft materials."
Hankey and Dye say that this is exactly what has happened, but also that it took more work than had perhaps been imagined.
Evans Hankey (red top, behind iMacs) leads a design discussion in Apple Park"We knew very much that this was a massive opportunity, but we also knew that it also had to be more than just adjacencies," said Hankey. "We got to where we were as a team because of our cultures and our processes."
"It was a challenge, not an automatic win," she continued. "It really took a lot of time to try new things out and be a little bit outside our comfort zones."
"We care about making great products, but we've worked equally hard at making a great team and culture," added Dye. "A lot of that came from the beginning. Steve defined Apple by its design."
"We always remember him saying that design is not just a veneer. It's not just how things look, it's about how things work," he continued. "After three years, we couldn't believe more in the vision of having one central Design Team across all Apple products."
Alan Dye (blue top), discussing typography in an Apple Park meeting roomThe full Wallpaper* interview touches on how this approach has benefited the design of products such as the Apple Watch. It also, though, reveals an Apple tradition.
"We have this tradition of making things for one another at Christmas," says Hankey. "It's about that joy of making and joy of giving. It's something that's come from the culture of the team."
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12 Comments
I love cathedrals.
But I wouldn't want to work in one.
These three pictures at least convey the message of grand architecture, not comfortable work environment. The scale is too big, the scenes too stark, the surfaces too hard. The building was designed for Steve Jobs, and the stockholders to admire, not the person who needs to put in eight hours designing a battery mount, or writing code for a mouse driver. Just like the Cathedrals were designed for the Church Hierarchy, not the people who actually arrived on Sunday.
It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to work there.
Architecture plays an important role unlit lives, whether we realize it or not. It should facilitate the tasks that take place within it, provide not only shelter but also comfort, and even inspire people to do great things. If the design team that works in Apple Park is inspired and able to work well, then I don’t think an outsider is in a position to question that. I find cathedrals to be very awe inspiring and to give a glimpse into something greater than myself, not oppressive.
It is impressive. Also, most likely energy efficient and very cool hidden underground parking lot. I flew from east coast a few years ago to visit the visitors center and take numerous pics and just hangout for a few days in Cali… All that said, I really don’t know if I would want to work in a circular office and it sounds like there may be too much of the glass walls. Would really have to be there in person inside of course to understand how it would feel to be there working. If offered position out there would have to consider moving out there of course. Only people who have been on the inside truly know.