I was recently interviewed by Tom Kaneshige of CIO.com on the topic of the proposed Apple “Spaceship Campus” in Cupertino. http://tinyurl.com/3urgkuv
As I had mentioned to Tom, I thought that this could be Steve’s final mark in Silicon Valley, potentially becoming the ICON of the Valley. Little did I know the following week he would resign as CEO. His visions for the past decades has lead us to places we never thought possible: personal computing, ipod music, iphones and now the ipad. He has inspired us all to “think different.” As a graphic designer, I have a lot to thank him for and wish him well in his next journey in life.
Regarding the proposed campus, I am eager to watch the details unfold. 
Great concept. How will it be executed?
The article gave me a chance to express my initial thoughts to the new campus. I was surprised as to the overwhelming response and comments to the article. So I thought I would include some of the highlights in this blog. Enjoy!
i like
jw
Interesting intv
Heidi
Well, we jokingly refer to the present main building as the ‘Mother Ship’, so why not a true spaceship? In general, I trust in Apple’s designs.
Most importantly, they will continue to bring jobs to our area.
Duane
Congrats on the nice quote!
Rochelle
and with a little imagination, that oblisk turns into..
Running with that idea, what happens when you marry it to 2001 A Space Odyssy Oblisk? Could be future expansion of executive offices
Doug
I think that the design of the new spaceship campus further promotes Apple’s ‘non-inclusive’ position in the world and in Silicon Valley! It appears isolated; non-friendly and elitist!
Almost as those ‘droids’ can take off in a moments notice! Wouldn’t it be nice if they could design a campus that would incorporate the communities of Silicon Valley; its historical significance; cultural arts and educational entities. A campus where future generations can experience the wonders of the Universe through experiential moments.
There.
Done.
AH
Interesting article on Apple and its role in society!!!
http://tinyurl.com/427nwkb
AH
The message is quite clear: Think Different
Paul
I like the metaphor of the spaceship as well as your comments about the medieval castle and moat – certainly Mr. Job’s is very secretive about the inner workings of Apple.
I see it a little differently in that when I look at Apple’s products, the key is that they work together.. It’s all about convergence. Let me explain…
I have just returned from the Valley Fair Apple Store where we bought our daughter a new MacBook Pro.. When you walk into the Apple store, you are guaranteed that everything in that store will work almost seamlessly with everything else in the store. The iPhones, iPods, iPads, Mac’s, AppleTV’s all stream to one another with very little input required from the user.
There is a massive Microsoft store being built directly across the mall from the Apple store which is one of the first we did some years ago. A perfect metaphor in that it will be larger, have more products and a whole lot less focus. Will the Acer PC work with the HP printer? Will it connect to the Lenovo laptop seamlessly? Will there be knowledgeable people there to help? I know the answer on the technical side, and it bodes well for Apple.
I think that Mr. Jobs is working the same philosophy with the new HQ.. It will be about a whole lot of smart people in the building being able to connect seamlessly without traversing the campus to find one another, and creating an atmosphere where they want to spend time. The greenspace will also be welcome. Somewhere Carly Fiorina is wondering what if!
Regards,
Mike
“It is because of its emptiness that the vessel is useful”
- Lao-tsu
Even as an architect, I would be more interested in its contents, or what we do not see, rather than the physical building itself.
Jim
My first reaction was: why no Apple trees?
Chuan
I find the circular design actually reminds me of the Pentagon– and I’m not sure that is an association that Apple would welcome!
– BT
Interesting building design concept. Reminds me a little of the pentagon.
Fred
I totally agree with your statement: “We really need a landmark building that will not only become an icon of Silicon Valley but will be part of the foundation that will sustain our way of life into the future.”
The spaceship is fun, relates to the future. The circle can seem closed, but is one half of our ever present binary system. Analogies galore. It could be a blast to see what happens next. Will the architects be slave to the circle? Or, heaven forbid, could it become nest-like? A bit more organic. A hub that radiates out. The real test is with the future corporate culture and its effect on employees, if they will feel comfortable to add their creativity, humanity, and make it their own, and how they connect it with community. I like the surrounding expanse of nature. The creepy, crawlies nearby.
Jan
The Santa Monica design is fantastic! Why didn’t someone think of a glass store before?
As for the proposed “spaceship” in Cupertino, I’m trying to envision what it would look like from street level. Probably would be beautiful and impressive. And groundbreaking. So, don’t see anything nefarious in it.
“Thanks for sharing.”
– Don
The little we know of space flight – mostly the things that NASA sends up from Florida – do not have circular shapes. In scifi any shape will do in outer space. A circular shape for most people evokes a UFO. I imagine the employees will get many low-humor jibes.
From the ground level, if one took the trouble and was able to circumambulate the structure, it would seem fortress-like. The look of the entry plaza at the lower-left of the picture, if that is what it is, suggests the saucer isn’t yet completed. But maybe that’s just the scale of the drawing.
From the air, the shape suggests a saucer, or maybe more like that Frisbee variant. I wouldn’t guess what psycho-social interpretations this direction would take.
The only large open-center building that I can remember is the DOD Pentagon in Virginia. It was built in wartime and a few years before I was born, so I don’t know what controversy or commentary may have ensued over the meaning of its shape. It is iconic in part because there is no forest to obstruct the view, and it can easily be driven and walked around. (I even drove through it by accident, once.)
In Washington, DC, the Forrestal Building was one of the first buildings without a ground floor, appearing to stand on stilts. It is an oblong and couldn’t suggest flight. I could believe the Apple HQ could suggest flight if it was (like Forrestal) on stilts, or if tilted with one edge elevated (but then there would be debate over whether it was crashing or taking off).
Having thought that out this far, I have to think that the design, a perfect, landlocked circle, is less innovative than the Pentagon, and visually without interest.
Norm
Looks like a white version of the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York. I’m actually surprised no one has made the connection yet. I suppose I should blog about it.
http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/
pages/pac2.index.html/$FILE/watson.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogersmith/208218537/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72458025@N00/5927982534
http://picasaweb.google.com/100687153254418635564/NewYork
IBMLifeFriends#5085970392884989442
http://pire.fiu.edu/images/partners/tjw.jpg
There’s a nice courtyard area in the back/inside the arch.
My dad has worked there for almost 30 years.
-Joe
I quess the glass gives it the spaceship feel but the big circle reminds me of the coliseum where a particular segment of the population fought the lions.
Hmmmm
Mike
I think before designing the actual structure, Apple should work out some sort of drive system first. The drive determines the shape of the actual building, which also has to be aerodynamic where there is an environment, and able to securely contain the environment in the vacuum of space. Also, in micro-space, the structure will be spinning, so the glass outward-facing walls will become the floor, so Apple will need to build ladders so people can enter and leave offices.
As an an earthbound office building, the Donut shape will impact people’s ability to connect and work together in person and inspire increased consumption in donuts, which would be a godsend to Crispy Kreme. As a spaceship, it ain’t so hot either. I’d have to give it a “0″.
;D
Apple’s new campus design is a circular version of the Pentagon, which emphasizes the secrecy mentioned by Steve. It also looks like a synchrotron; are they planning a high-speed accelerator? Or is it a new antenna for a new Apple satellite service that bypasses AT&T, Verizon and other wireless carriers so Apple can control everything — mobile connectivity and services? I wouldn’t be surprised; with $80 billion, Apple could buy mobile carriers around the world next, as well as DTV stations. This is the beginning of the new Global Apple. What will its future campuses look like in China, India, Brazil, etc?
ST
They should build a Deathstar next to Google. That would send a message.
Chris Fricke
Imagining vast fleets of Segways for 12,000 employees to navigate through the building.
Tron
“It definitely helps define Silicon Valley’s ‘think different’ mantra.”
Sorry but that’s incorrect. That ‘mantra’ is Apple’s alone. Not Silicon Valley’s.
Ian Kirkalnd
The author apparently has an over-active imagination. There is no rational basis whatsoever for some of his so-called “concerns”. To me, Apple’s message is crystal clear: Apple runs rings around its competitors.
Alansky
Do you mean the author or the person the author is quoting? Given the person quoted is of a design firm I’d hardly say he has “no rational basis” unless you have the ability (and to be fair perhaps you do, I’m just raising the point/question) to discuss this in terms of design aesthetics standards/craft.
As to “rational basis,” I think it’s pretty obvious that there is a fortress sort of look, the circling of wagons put another way or any number of other similar defensive postures which are deliberately insular.
I’m not saying you’re wrong re your opinion, but I think unless you wish to present something more solid “no rational basis” and “over-active imagination” regarding a design firm leader’s statements, I think you should phrase it as an opinion, perhaps (and I’m quite interested in if so) informed by design skills, and not attack someone else’s view.
Zornwill
Given its low profile, only 60 feet high, and the fact that it is always curving away from you, no ground level observer will notice a thing. They won’t be able to tell how big it is at all. It’s anti-monumental. It’s meant to have as light a footprint as possible for a commercial building. And, no, to answer Noel Cross’ question, the property will be fenced just as it is now. You’ll see it from a distance thru the trees and orchards, but only glimpses of the facade. Most observers won’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
ChKen
It might look like a spaceship but it’s actually an infinite loop. Perpetual innovation. That’s what I see it standing for. Looking at Apple’s mission from day 1, I’d say that it’s fitting.
Cyclonus5150
Not a spaceship, a mother-ship – in the shape of an infinite loop!
Pjs_boston
As an architect that knows Sir Norman Foster’s work (and international reputation), my first impressions of the building is mixed. From the air it is iconic for sure and the spaceship image is very powerful, but since when do we humans fly through the air? 99% of the experience will be by driving by or up to the building, parking and walking in. Since it is round and very large diameter, the building will occur as a vast curving facade, with very little to distinguish it from different angles. This poses a few problems for orienting oneself to the whole, and to where one is in relation to north/south/east/west. Perhaps there will be significant orienting devices that will help the users (sundials, vertical elements or “holes/slots” at the major entrances, color coding, etc). Will there be some way for the public to get into (or at least see into) the center? Or is the center of the donut akin to “Forbidden City” in Beijing? Some tough symbolism to deal with here.
Personally, I’d like to see some dramatic element slicing into and through the building to help out as an orienting device, and provide a glimpse and/or entrance into the…
Noel Cross
– As an architect, you should know about a not-too-recent invention: signage.
– Alansky
– As an architect (apparently), you should know about concepts regarding the presentation of form, that signage shouldn’t be necessary to address much of what this post you’re reacting to, and anyway that signage plastered everywhere for orientation and so forth becomes its own challenge.
Or please do provide your architectural knowledge and prowess to help answer the challenges Mr. Cross has presented. Or please consider that perhaps making off-handed comments lacking in any apparent professional depth – in reaction to actual professionals rather than someone as barely informed on the topic as I might be – rather than phrasing polite questions (e.g., “Couldn’t signage address this?”) is detrimental to the conversation. Thank you.
– zornwll
– Thank you for your meaningless reply
– Alansky
RT @kaneshige: Apple’s Spaceship Campus: What’s the Message?http://bit.ly/pnK7SR CIO.com [Me: "Welcome alien visitors."]
kmingis
Want to see Apple’s new digs? I’m pretty sure you can see it from Mars.bit.ly/qTcbiJ
atumIT
Some Silicon Valley guy thinks new Apple HQ design is “scary” because spaceships take off and leave. Wow, that’s dumb.soc.li/CLpyZ1V
LookingBackLost
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