Apple’s Spaceship HQ Won’t Take Off Until After 2016
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
It was enough to make you wonder if he was being serious or not. Of course, this was Steve Jobs, a man not often prone to making jokes.
In June 2011, in the midst of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs stopped by a Cupertino City Council meeting to share his plans for a brand new Apple campus that very closely resembled a spaceship. This design met with the typical, easy jokes about Jobs building a spaceship. Of course, this building also looked exactly as one might expect a Jobs-designed building to look, perfectly round, no harsh edges on the exterior, parking down below where no one can see the ugly mismatch of cars, and an apricot orchard topside for employees and visitors to enjoy.
The original plan was to break ground on this new campus as early as this year, but a newly submitted proposal suggests the city won’t be able to complete their environmental impact report until June. This could potentially move groundbreaking to 2014. If this is the case, the Jobsian campus may not be completed until 2016.
“They could conceivably break ground in 2013, but only if everything goes smoothly,” explained David Brandt, Cupertino’s city manager.
Of course, this is largely dependent on there being no hiccups, no legal challenges, and no citizen complaints about the building.
“The project is running a little bit slow,” said Brandt, speaking with Bloomberg.
Apple’s new proposal didn’t provide the city with any new renderings, though the company did add some changes to the proposed final project. As such, the city has said they need more time to go over these proposals. Apple had told the city they’d be making some changes in September. Because they only filed these changes as of November 14th, the city has said approval in early 2013, while feasible, is a bit unrealistic.
Of the changes listed in this new proposal, Apple has included some revisions which will allow the construction crews to build the new campus without having to remove any dirt from the location.
Apple has also planned to build an auditorium on campus, wherein they’ll likely hold future product announcements and other special events. The company has now proposed this auditorium be built farther away from one of the roads than was originally planned.
Apple has also added an additional building to the proposal to be used for parking and storing utility equipment. While some 10,000 parking spots will be housed underground, allowing more than 3-times the amount of landscaped areas on the Apple campus, the company expects their roster will continue to grow. The new parking spots should accommodate the 14,200 employees Apple plans to house on their new campus. These 14,200 employees will work at the Spaceship campus while Apple’s executives and their staff members will remain at 1 Infinite Loop, their current location.
Apple has also said they’ll no longer build a small bridge across a creek on one corner of the property.
“There’s nothing super-significant,” said Brandt, commenting on the new changes. The city hasn’t requested any of these changes, and according to Brandt, these changes are just one way Apple is “constantly trying to improve the project.”
How very Jobsian, indeed.
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2012-11-21 21:00:26
Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112735740/apple-spaceship-headquarters-delayed-2016-112112/
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