Apple announced this morning that Apple Park, its 2.8 million square foot, 178 acre campus that will house 12,000 employees will open in April. The process of moving so many people to Apple Park is anticipated to take around 6 months. In addition, work will continue on portions of the building and grounds throughout the summer.
Apple Park includes several notable features including:
- the world’s largest curved glass panels;
- a 1000-seat auditorium with a 20-foot tall, 165 foot diameter glass cylinder entrance with a metallic carbon-fiber roof;
- a 100,000 square-foot employee fitness center;
- over 2 miles of walking and jogging trails;
- over 9,000 native and drought-resistant trees;
- a 17-megawatt rooftop solar facility that will supply all of Apple Park’s power needs; and
- a visitor’s center with an Apple Store and café.
The theater, which is one of the new facility’s marquee features, is named the Steve Jobs Theater in honor of Jobs who would have turned 62 this week. Tim Cook had this to say about Apple Park and Steve Jobs’ legacy:
Steve’s vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come. The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment. We’ve achieved the most energy-efficient building of its kind in the world and the campus will run entirely on renewable energy.
Lauren Powell Jobs commented that:
Steve was exhilarated, and inspired, by the California landscape, by its light and its expansiveness. It was his favorite setting for thought. Apple Park captures his spirit uncannily well. He would have flourished, as the people of Apple surely will, on this luminously designed campus.
Apple’s press release is accompanied by a short video of workers putting the finishing touches on Apple Park, which provides a sense of the scope of this enormous project.
