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[VIDEO/PICS] Apple's $5 Billion Spaceship Headquarters Revealed

Set in rolling fields, this shimmering spaceship promises to follow Apple's values of 'innovation, ease of use and beauty'. But is it a techno-utopia too far?

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The Apple Campus 2 'pushes the boundaries of technology in almost every aspect'

The latest images reveal quite how much of an Apple product the $5bn complex will be. While the climbing walls and mini-golf courses of Google's offices might embody the company's anything-goes karma, their buildings are not literally made of primary-coloured blobs or cartoonish toolbar icons.

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'The best office building in the world?' … Inside the garden in the middle of the mothership. Photograph: City of Cupertino

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The Apple mothership, on the other hand, looks like it could be built out of the stuff of computers itself. It's as if Jonathan Ive, in a moment of madness, had unscrewed all the polished parts of his iPhones, iMacs and Macbook Pros and refashioned them in a great big circle.

theguardian.com

At the gaping triple-height entrance, through which the 13,000 employees will file, soaring columns will rise through the triumphal portal in the same brushed-aluminium finish as a Macbook. Others who arrive by bus will enter up a grand imperial staircase, whose whiter-than-white handrails are chamfered with the same radius as the curved corners of an iPad.

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Apple's proposed new 2.8 million square-foot spaceship headquarters.

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Arcadian bliss? … Apple apostles walk back from the circular conference temple. Photograph: City of Cupertino

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“The building is pushing the boundaries of technology in almost every aspect,” says senior Foster architect Stefan Behling. “The glazing is a completely new system that's never been done before,” he says, referring to the 12m-high concave sheets of glass for the main facade being manufactured in Germany, the biggest of their kind ever made. “Everything is handcrafted for this project.”

theguardian.com

Copyright: City of Cupertino/Apple

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WATCH: Officila video of Apple Campus 2

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Apple has won the approval of the Cupertino City Council on Tuesday to move ahead with plans to create its new "spaceship" headquarters

Apple's proposed new headquarters, whose design resembles a flying saucer, received unanimous approval from the company’s home-city council Tuesday, the last real hurdle before construction can begin.

wsj.com

Although the Council must meet one more time on November 15 to hold a final vote on the Apple Campus 2 project, that is essentially a formality. Apple now plans to begin demolishing building on the site by the end of this year.

cnet.com

The ringlike "spaceship" design was the apple of Steve Jobs' eye, a place the Apple co-founder hoped would reflect his company's product design ideas. The massive facility will be four stories high and feature curved glass.

washingtonpost.com

Apple expects the facility to be able to accommodate over 14,000 employees, more than five times the number Apple's current headquarters can fit.

cnet.com

The news made Apple CEO Tim Cook so happy that he paid a rare visit to his Tweet button. This morning, Cook tweeted:

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GALLERY: Apple’s new campus in Cupertino (exclusive photos)

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs pitching for his dream office to Cupertino City Council

Apple submitted revisions that will let it complete the project without having to truck out any dirt, and wants to move a free-standing , 1,000-seat auditorium farther away from one of the surrounding roads than in the original plan.

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Apple commented to AllThingsD on the delay, with Apple spokesperson Amy Bessette saying that "Apple Campus 2 will be a new home for our company and an important part of the lives of more than 12,000 Apple employees. With that in mind, we have approached this project with the same care and attention to detail we pay when designing any Apple product."

Image via macnn.com

Apple said the construction of a new spaceship-like headquarters with a circular design in Cupertino, California, won't be completed until mid-2016.

indiatimes.com

The revised plans will be posted on the city's community development website after Thanksgiving, according to the director of the department, Aarti Shrivastava. Making the plans public, he said, will require that the city upgrade their web servers to handle the expected spike in visitors to the site.

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Steve Jobs' spaceship-like Cupertino headquarters will likely be delayed by a year because of the city's environmental impact reports.

nbcsandiego.com

The iPhone maker included the new timetable in an updated proposal it submitted to the city on November 14.

indiatimes.com

Apple -- recently the most valuable company in the world -- is looking to reduce its energy footprint while simultaneously building the coolest, forward-thinking headquarters in the world.

nbcsandiego.com

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