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Apple Park Opens Its Spaceship Hatch for First Peek Inside

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 16, 2017, 1:18 PM ET

Documentarians have been recording construction progress on Apple’s new headquarters over the last several months, and now, the company is providing a glimpse inside its walls.

Apple opened its Apple Park facility for the first time recently, invitingWired behind closed doors. During the tour, Wired talked in detail about the sprawling buildings, the design choices Apple made throughout, including a four-story glass door, and some of the luxurious choices the company made, like intentionally distressing stone to have it look like the same color as stone from one of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ favorite hotels.

Ultimately, Apple (AAPL) decided to build Apple Park to benefit employees for the next century, CEO Tim Cook told Wired: “this was a hundred-year decision.”

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Read on for some of the highlights from Wired’s Apple Park tour:

  • The 100,000-square-foot fitness center at Apple Park has a two-story yoga room. It’s covered in the stone Apple intentionally distressed for Steve Jobs. It’s from a quarry in Kansas.
  • The main Apple Park building, known as the Ring, offers a three-quarter-mile walk around its perimeter. It’s 2.8 million square feet and will house 12,000 employees.
  • According to Wired, the initial design on the Ring looked like a “bloated clover leaf” instead of a full circle like it is now.
  • The Apple Cafe will be able to serve up to 4,000 people at once. It takes up four stories and has two glass doors that are four stories tall. When asked why Apple needs a four-story glass door, the company’s design chief Jony Ive asked Wired how one would “define need.”
  • Apple Park will have 9,000 trees, all of which will be drought-tolerant. According to Wired, Apple wanted the landscaping to withstand climate crises.
  • The Ring is what Apple calls a “breathing” building. The building has soffits that can “inhale” air and shafts that expel warm air to the outside.
  • As part of its commitment to renewable energy, Apple Park has 805,000 square feet of solar arrays.
  • The Ring’s walls are safety glass measuring 45 feet tall.
  • Apple has patented a pizza box that promises to keep Apple employees’ pizzas fresh, hot, and crisp. And it might go into use at Apple Park.
  • It’s believed Apple Park cost the company $5 billion to build. Apple, however, has not confirmed the actual price.
About the Author
By Don Reisinger
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