“After stringing together record-breaking quarters, bull-rushing the smartphone industry, creating a market-rattling tablet, and earning the title (at least for a little while) as the biggest company in the United States, Apple now has plans to reward itself,” Tom Kaneshige reports for CIO.
“Apple wants to build a futuristic campus in the heart of Silicon Valley. Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs describes the circular building as looking ‘a little like a spaceship landed,'” Kaneshige reports. “Apple is already known for game-changing architecture, shaking up the retailer industry with glass-filled Apple Stores around the world… But the planned Apple campus, dubbed Apple Campus 2, takes architecture to an entirely new level. The four-story campus is expected to hold 12,000 people, span 2.6 million square feet on 150 acres, and be operational by 2015.”
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Kaneshige reports, “On the design front, Apple Campus 2 has a shot at becoming an icon of Silicon Valley. ‘The spaceship concept is clever and indeed a departure from other landmark buildings,’ says Steve Yamaguma, president and creative director of Design2Market, a long-time Silicon Valley design firm serving tech companies… But Yamaguma sees mixed messages with the design.”
Read more in the full article here.
Huh? What exactly is this mixed message?
mixed exactly this What is Huh? message?
The architect was suitably waffly when it came to explaining “mixed message”; hence comment discard.
Spoken more like a guy who didn’t get the job designing the campus.
From the original article:
…At first, the campus drawings reminded him of the old feudal mentality of a castle and a moat—an image that symbolizes Apple’s well-known culture of secrecy and control.
The spaceship analogy, in its simplistic form, is also “a little scary,” he says. “A spaceship lands and later takes off into space. It has a sense of being temporary.”
“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,” says Yamaguma, who lives within a stone’s throw of the campus.
Like that old Hugh Hefner Saturday Night Live space opera spoof where the male spaceship crashes into the female ship Apple/Pentagon donut shaped with center hole? Only in that instance Apple should be a rocket screwing everything else. 🙂
Architect Norman Foster’s message seems pretty clear.
To see the male spaceship, do an image search on:
London Gherkin Norman Foster
Cupertino is such a strip mall dump, man did they luck up.
Actually, there are no visual messages, as it’s only 60 feet tall, and no one can see its size from ground level. It’s meant to be anti-monumental.
“It’s a space ship. Apple are aliens. They’re going to leave us without technology!”
How do clowns like this get jobs?
I’m reminded of the scene in “Close Encounters” where airmen captured decades ago are returned barely aged. “Einstein was right,” says one military man. “Einstein was probably one of them,” says the other. How long until some will be suggesting “Steve Jobs is probably one of them.”
Idiot. Like something that huge, expensive, and obviously very well thought out is gonna be temporary. Spaceship likeness or not. Iconic means “defining” and “different”. That is exactly what this is. And it fits with Apple’s green, eco-friendly mentality. Absolutely incredible that they would think ahead to sustainability and some semblance of self-sufficiency. I’d think these idiots are just panning for a response. The “message” is obviously “we’re as damn good at designing buildings as we are devices – better than anyone else.” This is why the council approved their proposal in short order. Any community should be happy to have such a building that plants more trees than asphalt, that even *attempts* to generate any of their own power. Something that beautifies the landscape instead of hiding it.
“We cum in piece”?
It’s CIO magazine. You expected something worth reading? Snarky Remark.
It’s a Stargate!
Jobs: I can’t believe no one knew what we were building!
SGC (Stargate Cupertino!): …Chevron 7 locked, sir!
“E.T. iPhone home..”
Stupid article full of empty speculation. To me, the “message” is clear: Apple runs rings around the competition.
The message of this building is they need more space. The message of this article is this writer is a moron
By the time the “mothership” is actually completed, Apple will need an even larger building. If not, Cupertino will feel like a ghost town, when “everyone” suddenly moved into the new mega-building and all of the currently rented commercial space becomes vacant. It seems like half of Cupertino’s boring commercial buildings have an Apple logo in front. I guess real estate developers can turn the commercial space in residential condos and “lofts” for Apple employees.
Finally Apple has the resources to build a true StarGate!
only CIO could turn a circle into a mixed message.
JANUARY 1, 2020 0100 HOURS
Seismic activity centered at the Cupertino Campus of Apple computer was recorded as far away as Mexico City.
Thousands reported seeing bright lights in and around the campus flood the skies before it suddenly began to rise into the air. At a certain point the gigantic circular campus hung in the sky and began to glow like a giant HALO. It was shortly after this point that witnesses describe a strange feeling of euphoria and loss of equilibrium as the flying campus suddenly vanished. Some say it was as if it ripped open a hole in the sky and vanished into it.
All that was left was a note that said, “So long and thanks for all the cash. We finished ahead of schedule and well under budget. You can have the billions left over. Be nice and don’t fight. PS… LMFAO.”
It wasn’t until days later that the people of earth noticed that many, if not all of their best and brightest had seemingly disappeared as well. The finest mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, biologists, engineers, doctors, artists, musicians, and so on. Left behind were the mediocre, as well as the politicians, lawyers, news media, etc.
Noted Technology Industry Leech Leo Laporte commented, “See. I told ya to use Android.”
And me…don’t forget me!!
And all media outlets received the very next day a notice that earth was being demolished in order to make way for a galactic super highway.
“It definitely helps define Silicon Valley’s ‘think different’ mantra.” – from the actual article.
I think this is a ‘little’ wrong, no?
I see a mega disaster when the big quake hits.
All those glass stores will be death traps.
This mega Apple campus be an area with a huge death toll.
It will be difficult to locate any survivors.
The dreams of many will end that day.
Will yours?
Mr. Yamaguma’s two (less than incisive) theories are that it is: designed like a castle with a moat, thus reinforcing Apple’s secrecy; and the spaceship look is “scary” because a space ship lands, takes off and is therefore “temporary.”
Although he may have discovered secret underground booster rockets to launch this thing into space, staff and their screaming kids in the playroom included, this interpretation would make this “creative” firm’s credentials a bit dicey. On the other hand, if that concept for your comic book rattling around in your head for ages needs a “philosophy” for the media, get to him asap.
I see a green futuristic design for the new headquarters. No messages at all. Why is it that people have to over analyze everything. If Steve Jobs wanted to send out messages with the design he would have included big billboards. But he didn’t because there is no secret messages in this design at all.
It will be the single largest concentration of people from India outside of India. Just my prediction.
It’s a big FU to Redmond, that’s what it is. It sends the message out to Ballmer that I’ll stick two fingers up at you and build whatever the hell I want that’ll make your campus look so small it’ll be like I just shat a donut in your face by comparison.
And it sends a message out to the spaced out zombies in the Googleplex that I don’t care if Eric the Mole stole my IP, you’re going to be eating donuts and breathing my exhaust for the rest of your life.
“Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.”
– Sigmund Freud
I remember back in the 90’s when the internet was relatively new, I said to myself, “Wow! Cool! Anybody can publish anything easily!!!” These days, however, I’m saying to myself, “Ugh… Anybody can publish anything easily.”
The design goes back to the mothership, it’s a metaphor for the womb. Apple is the womb that gives life to technology that enlightened people use to be creative.
Not bad for just finishing mowing the lawn!
The building will be another Apple infinite loop. Thinking different would have made it a mobius strip.
By the way, didn’t Apple say the Old Infinite Loop buildings would remain theirs? I can’t imagine why they’d need them.
Isn’t it obvious? it’s to attract the right minds to work for Apple rather than Google, Facebook etc.
This building is a huge sign saying, “COME AND WORK HERE!”