Size
2.8 million square feet of office space, 57 feet high at the outer edge and 75 feet at the center
By the end of 2016, the works of the new Apple Campus 2 will be finished. It is a great architectural complex which also represents a further advance in terms of major engineering works. A drone flight over the construction of Apple Campus 2 has announced the current progress of the work.
Apple will inaugurate its new campus and we can already see it thanks to the flight of a drone. Drone pilot Duncan Sinfield has flown a drone over it, allowing a complete view of it. You can see the Apple campus thanks to an unmanned aircraft in this LINK. Building, which has been going on for more than a year and a half, is still going smoothly.
The underground auditorium for future Apple keynotes is being slowly covered. Meanwhile and little by little, in the center of the ring, the garden, the lake surrounded by native trees of the area and the dining room that is set up outdoors are taking shape. This new auditorium, the “Apple Theater“, will seat 1000 people and hopes to become the host of upcoming Apple events and the presentation of their new products.
The incorporation of the workers is planned at the beginning of the year and, the opening of its doors is planned at the end of January. Apple Campus 2 becomes the second headquarters of the computer company in the Californian city of Cupertino.
At the end of October, two new videos recorded by drones, were released, reflecting the evolution in the Apple Campus 2 building. The image shows fewer cranes, how the exterior facade of the building is almost finished and the solar panels of the roof, which are being placed. The gardens also show an increasingly perfect state, since there are many trees already planted. Besides all these facts, the maintenance facilities are also being improved with the construction of a new security building next to the Avenue Tantau campus. Meanwhile, the garages are gradually showing a finished appearance, letting you glimpse the 300 loading stations for the employee´s use.
Thanks to the drone flight, you can see in the video the different buildings that make up this Apple campus, which will serve as one of the most important R & D centers not only for the technology giant but also for the entire world.
Nowadays, thanks to the flight of the drone, we have been able to see the progress of the installation of the solar panels that will provide energy to the campus and the air conditioning units on the roof of the main building, placed in a ring shape. The solar panels are located on the roof of the garage and you can see that all of them are almost installed. The garage will have a capacity for 14,200 vehicles.
Surrounded by more than 7,000 trees, most of them citrus ones, the Apple campus will be in use in 2017. It will be surrounded by a large security fence, although nowadays, passers-by can approach and enter to have a view of how this Great work happens. The new Apple campus will also have an auditorium, supported by large windows, the largest surface of curved crystals in the world, which will be able to seat thousands of people. It will also have a fitness center and will be well communicated in the California region.
In order to be auto sufficient, a total of 4 megawatts of energy will be supplied by the Bloom energy cells, to which we must add the combination of Apple´s solar panels and rechargeable batteries. According to previous reports, Apple indicates that it will be able to handle about the 75% of campus 2 needs at the energy efficiency level during the main working hours. This will not require external power supply.
Apple has chosen Bloom Energy fuel cell technology to partially fuel the campus 2. Apple already used this technology in 2012, when using Bloom Energy Server units in its North Carolina data center. This system is capable of converting biogas in about 4.8 megawatts of energy. Moreover, another 26 cells of fuel were added to reach a total of 10 megawatts. This system has 65% efficiency, obtaining twice the density of deficiency if we compare it compared to previous models.
These units can also convert natural gas and biogas energy. The solar panels of the complex are estimated to generate 16 megawatts of energy, which added to the 4 megawatts of biogas fuel cells should be enough to cover three-quarters of what the Apple center requires. The external outdoor energy will be supplied from a 130-megawatt solar energy project supplied by First Solar and Monterrey County.
The estimate budget of this huge project, the largest one by Apple, is $ 5 billion or more.
As explained above, photovoltaic panels aligned on the roofs of almost all campus buildings and structures, make us see the great and sustainable energy commitment that Apple has made for this construction. However, the underground auditorium will be made with carbon fiber. In addition to the solar panels, Campus 2 will have another energy-producing device. The idea of the company is to use the network as a backup and thus sell the electricity excess generated to the network through its subsidiary Apple Energy.
The video recorded by Matthew Roberts shows us the great changes that this construction has experienced over time, while that of Duncan Sinfield is committed to reflect facts and figures. In these audio-visual works we can see how the central building measures about 57 feet in height on the outer edge and 75 feet in the center. In these videos we can also watch Apple´s frustrated attempt to buy all the apartments near the zone with the intention of tripling the dimensions of this construction.
The last videos published a few days ago show us the great evolution of Apple’s Campus 2, generating excitement in the company and in so many customers and employees who dream of this new technological revolution. The main structures and decorative elements of the landscape make us believe that it will open its doors in less than a month.
The use of drones has been essential to know, year after year and month after month, the progress in the gestation, the first construction works, their development and the final progresses in the construction of the new Apple´s Campus 2. This is the chronology of the project thanks to photographs and videos made thanks to drones.
Everything is almost ready for the new Apple´s campus in Cupertino, California, to open its doors. Known as Campus 2, its construction was begun at the end of 2003 and it will be finished by the end of 2016. But, in fact, this project, which we have been able to see recently thanks to the drone pilot Duncan Sinfield, who has flown a drone over it, allowing a complete vision of it, has been a project for more than ten years now, since Steve Jobs announced its construction in 2006. According to a latest report submitted a few weeks ago, it is expected to have around 13,000 employees, with an office area of approximately 2.8 million square meters in a huge 176-acre wooded area.
By 2015, when this project began to see the light, Apple guaranteed the creation of 1.9 million jobs around the world. The new Cupertino campus will generate 41,000 jobs in Santa Clara County, while construction work carried out over three years has generated 12,600 jobs.
Apple´s C.E.O., Tim Cook, said in an interview that the first groups of employees will begin moving to Campus 2 starting next January. This majestic construction, similar to a spacecraft, will be a technological, energy and business revolution, demonstrating the great heyday of the American company over the last few years.
The Company estimate that the works will be finished in 2017 and the landscaping completed in the second quarter of next year.
And what about the staff? Apple has already set itself to work! In fact, hiring for Campus 2 is already being closed even before the definitive transfer to it. Up until now the hiring of employees was run by a third company, although Apple itself has enabled the different jobs available for the company’s new headquarters on its Website. One of the most attractive and desirable job positions is ‘master of loading dock’. The function of this worker would be taking responsibility for all operations of the loading dock, controlling the delivery of materials to the different locations of the campus and training the new staff in the tasks entrusted.
Authorised Training Organisation (ATO 190) – AESA
Periodically, Apple has been showing and posting updates on the progress of this project. However, from One Air we will show a chronology of the history of this Apple´s Campus 2 from the first sketches to the progress in its works and the general overview provided by drones. We begin with Steve Jobs´ presentation session at Cupertino´s Town Hall in April 2006, where the plans for Apple´s Campus 2 were announced for the first time.