Vanessa Quirk writes for Arch Daily, “When Apple revealed the plans for their new campus in Cupertino, the responses to the ‘spaceship’ were….varied, to say the least: ‘Spectacular would be an understatement’ ; ‘So disappointing…’ ; a ‘…panopti-lawn…’ ; and – my personal favorite – ‘Sphincter?'”
“The announcement instigated a flurry of analyses and criticisms over the meaning of the design for the world – the Zen-like significance of the circle, the role of architecture in this technologically-driven age, the legacy and hubris of Jobs – but produced very little discussion over its meaning for the company itself,” Quirk writes.
“Meanwhile, months before news of the “spaceship” landed, another internet giant was searching the California landscape for its own space to call home,” Quirk writes. “Still very much under-wraps, the new Googleplex will be the first time Google builds a workplace completely from scratch.”
Quirk writes, “These projects will be the Magnum Opuses, the ultimate physical representations, of the two most influential Tech companies in the world, and the two share striking similarities. So let’s clash the plans of these two titans and take another look at Apple 2 – but this time in the light of Google – and see what they can tell us about these companies’ futures.”
Tons more in the full article – recommended – here.
Related articles:
Apple submits additional info, plans, renderings of Mothership campus in Cupertino (with images) – March 10, 2012
Apple’s Mothership campus solar roof will be among biggest in U.S. – December 7, 2011
Apple submits updated Mothership campus plans to Cupertino, reveals stunning renderings – December 7, 2011
Analyst: 170-acre solar farm, ‘mothership’ campus to push Apple expenses to $8 billion in 2012 – October 31, 2011
New Yorker architecture critic: Apple’s proposed Mothership campus is ‘scary’ and ‘troubling’ – September 27, 2011
Apple’s infinite loop: Mothership campus impressive but enigmatic – September 14, 2011
Architecture critic: Apple’s new mothership campus will be a retrograde cocoon – September 12, 2011
Cupertino Mayor Wong: Apple’s mothership campus ‘definitely not a done deal’ – September 9, 2011
Apple’s mothership campus: What’s the message? – August 22, 2011
City of Cupertino posts further details on Apple mothership campus – August 13, 2011
Apple’s new ‘Mothership’ campus: Full details and gallery – June 16, 2011
Steve Jobs wanted to build mothership campus nearly three decades ago – June 14, 2011
Cupertino mayor: ‘There is no chance we are saying no’ to Apple Mothership (with video) – June 9, 2011
Steve Jobs presents giant 12,000 employee ‘spaceship’ campus to Cupertino City Council (with video) – June 8, 2011
What about contrasting these with the MS campus?
The frenemy of my frenemy is my frenemy.
“Quirk writes, “These projects will be the Magnum Opuses..” – opera is the plural of opus.
Opuses is also acceptable
not when quoting a latin phrase, i.e. “magnum opus.”
Not Opi? Oh well, same with foxen and boxen
Google’s will obviously circular as well, but in a much more fragmented form.
Google will bury their complex underground, a la the seven circles of hell.
For many years Apple has been gathering the best and the brightest from all over the world. This is not just a business decision. There are an equal number of men and women. Hell, even the janitors in that place have doctorates.
The Apple campus will lift off one week after move in. It’s going to rendezvous with Steve who’s really not dead, but heading up the move to Alpha Centauri where they will escape the rest of us. Steve is in an Apple orbital platform on the other side of the moon. It stays hidden. One morning Cupertino will think it’s been hit by an Earthquake, but it’s really the anti-grav drives of the new center kicking in. One quick “warp” jump and they pick up Steve, and poof, they will be gone. The only thing left will be a page on the Apple website saying, “So long and thanks for all the money. Boom!”
I’m about to call Time Warner and install a new cable modem. This could mean that I won’t see MDN and all your comments for a few weeks. Wish me luck. It’s been great.
Good luck and God speed TM..
See you on your return!
If I were Google, I wouldn’t consider moving into new digs. I don’t see much of a future for a company whose products start with intense uninspired mediocrity and slowly dies from apathy.
In addition, their main money-makers, AdSense and Google Maps, are facing public criticism for their greed, questionable use policies, and the ultimate stake-through-the-heart, betraying the public’s trust with the selling and nefarious use of their customer’s private information. I would wait another year before I go out and look at drapery colors.
There are far too many new “answer engines” that give direct results to answers, ready to overtake Google’s aging idea of displaying a scrambled anemic results list of their highest paying advertisers that have similar keywords to your inquiry. Every subsequent Google search seems to produce a list that is less relevant than the last.
Google is too much like Microsoft: Tons of cash, tons of engineers, and not a single clue amongst any of them. This could very easily be Apple’s future if they don’t stop with the “me too” lame ideas coming from their sales and finance departments.
I found an artist rendering of Googles new digs: http://tinyurl.com/8yb8sku
+∞
Google will copy a great existing design and pretend they came up with it.
The new Googleplex should have the address of One Infinite Evil.
The new Googleplex will be a Black Hole.
Which architecture is your Magnum Opus?
Apple’s 2011-06 Campus II mothership or 2012 GooglePlex?
best overall source for all things Apple Mothership:
http://www.stevessence.com/2011/12/07/campus2/