“After years of planning what promises to be Silicon Valley’s most iconic landmark, Apple this week enters the final stretch in its plan to open its new saucer-shaped headquarters in Cupertino. On Tuesday afternoon, the company and city officials will hold a public discussion that could help determine the building’s fate, allowing political leaders and the public to weigh in on the completed environmental impact study and learn how Apple intends to address concerns that have been raised,” Patrick May reports for The San Jose Mercury News.
“The good news is that the EIR appears to have been very comprehensive, with every impact listed along with what Apple is doing to mitigate those impacts,” Mayor Orrin Mahoney said Monday. “We’ve all received tons of emails about this project, and most have been positive. When I talk to neighbors and friends they say, ‘How come they haven’t started building it yet?'” May reports. “The building project, which Mahoney says is now rivaled only by One World Trade Center in New York City in terms of scope and size, is designed by world-famous architect Sir Norman Foster. With its four stories and 2.8 million square feet expected to house up to 14,200 employees, the architectural extravaganza is sure to draw tourists from around the world.”
“If the plan is approved by the planning commission, which meets on Wednesday, and by the City Council, which takes an initial vote Oct. 15 and a final vote Nov. 19, city officials say demolition of a former Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) campus on the site could be underway by year’s end,” May reports. “Mahoney said a detailed model of the headquarters will be unveiled to the public in the coming weeks, showing how expansive and impressive Foster’s strange-looking creation really is. Amenities include three restaurants, totaling 120,000 square feet, along with a corporate auditorium of 120,000 square feet, fitness centers and a large testing-and-data center.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Edward W.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Structures demolished as Apple guts HP campus for ‘Mothership’ landing area – August 15, 2013
Apple promotes ‘Mothership’ campus job creation, economic benefits for Cupertino – June 4, 2013
Apple hires ‘Mothership’ campus architect Norman Foster’s firm to revamp retail stores, sources say – April 10, 2013
Steve Jobs’ ‘Mothership’ Apple campus costs have ballooned from under $3 billion to nearly $5 billion – April 4, 2013
Steve Jobs’ ‘Mothership’ Apple campus delayed until mid-2016 – November 21, 2012
New images of Apple’s ‘Mothership’ campus show amazing detail – September 9, 2012
California Governor Brown fast-tracks Apple’s ‘Mothership’ HQ – June 30, 2012
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
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Cupertino mayor: ‘There is no chance we are saying no’ to Apple Mothership (with video) – June 9, 2011
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Everyone says a doomed company doesn’t need a $5 billion headquarters and that Apple will fall long before the new headquarters is completed. In fact, it’s been said that the very idea of a company building a new headquarters indicates the company is on a decline. The pundits often say when a large company builds a monument to itself, it usually ends up as its tombstone. It’s really so amusing how many people are unhappy with Apple for spending money on such a large project. I think it would be great to have most of the employees in just one location. It should really be a fun campus to work at.
Google is in a bind in their N.Y. office. Their employee rate is growing rapidly, but other tenants in that building refuse to leave and now Google has to look elsewhere around Manhattan for additional space to put employees. That shows rather poor planning.
Another pilgrimage site.
yes, I’d rather go see this than the Pyramids. Gonna be cool.
I don’t know, the Pyramids are not going to be around forever. 🙂
Nice!
@botvinnik
there should be a million less flies than at the pyramids
… and hopefully this wont be next to a massive slum
…or the air pollution(stench of camels)!
youve been there?
Yes, and he’s right….
Pyramids? Who wants to see pyramids when you can look at a giant
” rel=”nofollow”>Aerobie?
An environmental impact study?
For an existing paved commercial office area Apple will be bulldozing to plant a forest and tuck a green building into?
WTF!?!
That’s an ultra-simplistic look. If one could just pick up the old building and destroy it by sending it into a black hole (so that it leaves no trace of debris), and plop the new building in its place, then we would need no environmental impact.
However, the demolition of the old building will be (as it always is) a messy job that generates massive amount of waste, debris and pollution. Same for new construction, which also generates significant pollution. Obviously, the city would like to find out what Apple (and the demolition / construction company doing the work) will mitigate those detrimental effects during the construction project.
As for the environmental benefits of the final building, the city has long ago approved Steve’s plans and expressed their love for its eco-friendliness, with all the low energy usage, trees, greenery, etc. That is not in question here.
I take it you are not to familiar with California. You need an EIS to take a crap out here.
Yep. That’s why our pollution levels are at the lowest in 50 years, and why many of us wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else.
Keep in mind, we’re not simply talking about the land itself.
Traffic patterns will also be changed (introducing more smog and other environmental concerns into the area). A building with 14,000+ employees will produce much more waste than the empty building there now.
Etc., etc.
Not a big fan of the regulations in CA, but their purpose isn’t as simplistic as most people imagine.
Finally – an iPhone 5s home button that can be seen from space! Now we know where the inspiration for the new round icons came from.
Now that was cute!
Hope I can same enough money to go there after it is completed. I’ll hit Macword for a 4th time, then make the pilgrimage to the new saucer, so I can say I’ve been to both Motherships, before and after.
Timmy Timmy Timmy..don’t take one friggin dollah out of Steve’s mothership dream. Steve built a multi-multi-muuultiii billion dollar enterprise and he deserves the mothership as it was originally intended…capisci? 🙂
When the Mothership is completed, I plan on flying over for a visit!
One ring to rule them all…my Precious….
The building resembles a high energy particle accelerator more than a flying saucer: (
)
Appropriate in a sense for the Silicon Valley area, although with some irony, as our local high energy particle accelerator (SLAC) is actually a linear accelerator, not a circular one. More evidence of Steve’s sense of humor, no doubt.
Alien Overlord: “And we shall drop our atomic life extraction Smegloscopic bombs precisely THERE, in that little circle on the ground. The first ship to hit the target gets to dine with me at midnight and listen to my new book of poetry. 3-2-1…”
Just wondering, isn’t a large circle just one infinite loop?