Apple’s “Spaceship” Campus Building

Apple Park has been the headquarters for the Apple company since 1993 in Cupertino, California, recently making additions to an “Apple Campus.” This new campus was opened to the employees of the company in April of 2017 and boasted many new buildings.

The project, which was delayed until 2013, cost the company around $5 billion dollars for all the buildings and materials used in the construction. The buildings were made with the intent of keeping employees inspired and to be energy efficient.

“We’ve achieved one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple in an article from Macworld.com. “The campus will run entirely on renewable energy.”

Most of the buildings have been made with entirely glass walls that allow the employees to look out into a large park. There is also an open floor plan with spacious rooms and large tables where multiple people can work and, hopefully, come together to team up on projects. However, this idea has been ridiculed by many of the employees, and there is fear that workers will leave their work at Apple because of these designs.

Despite these complaints over the designs of the buildings and work spaces, Apple still worked to make their headquarters a safe and healthy place for their employees. They offer workout rooms, running paths, bikes for transportation and the company has been working on many security measures to keep their workers safe.

All of these buildings and ideas were brought together with specific materials and intricate designs. The building was an incredible piece of architecture; however, one design flaw has led to many injuries and a few awkward calls to authorities.

With the incredibly clear glass walls of the buildings– most notably the large circular building that earned the campus the nickname of the “spaceship” campus–many people may be afraid of animals like birds hitting the windows. This was not the case, however, as the main victims of the clear walls have been the employees inside of the building.

As expected of those who work for Apple, most of the people inside of the headquarters can often be seen walking around looking at their phones or tablets at work. This would normally be a relatively safe situation, but with the see-through windows, many are smacking their faces into the windows and hurting their heads. Some unfortunate employees have even needed medical attention for cuts or bumps on their heads and faces.

Injuries are not even the only reason authorities are being called to the headquarters. There have been calls to 911 from embarrassed employees who cannot seem to find their way out of the building. The glass walls and open floors have created a maze that requires a lot of help to navigate. Some have even taken to placing sticky notes onto the walls in order to tell where they are, but those were quickly taken down in order to maintain the sleek look for which Apple strives.

With all of these, admittedly humorous, problems that have arisen with the new Apple Headquarters combined with some more serious issues with employee work spaces, it will take some time for this building to function smoothly. However, even with these issues, this group of buildings is quite impressive and could lead the way for more completely energy-efficient buildings being made in the future.