Faster than you can say, “Hey Siri,” Apple’s much-anticipated Foster + Partners-designed campus is hurtling toward completion in Cupertino, California.
Yesterday, in time for what would have been founder Steve Job’s 62nd birthday, the company announced that it will begin moving its 12,000 employees into the futuristic facility this April. Apple released a new video documenting construction progress.
Though Apple Park is defined by its gleaming 2.8 million-square-foot, donut-shaped main building, the 175-acre campus will also include a visitor’s center, an employee fitness facility, two miles of trails, 9,000 trees, meadows, and a pond. The company also released a rendering of the Steve Jobs Theater, a 1000-seat auditorium housed in a glazed cylindrical volume topped with a carbon-fiber roof.
The campus will purportedly rely solely on renewable energy sources, including on-site solar power. Natural ventilation will allow the building to operate without heating or cooling for nine months of the year, according to Apple.
In addition to dramatic shots of the main building gleaming in the sunset, the video depicts workers installing a sprawling rooftop solar array and exterior curved glass panels, some of the largest in the world.
“Steve’s vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement. “The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment.”
According to Apple, the employee move will take approximately six months, with construction occurring concurrently.
