With a footprint estimated as 2.8 million square feet, and a budget said to be approaching $5 billion, Apple's new corporate campus is certain to make a statement. But as investors grow restless over falling share prices, just what will it say?
Apple's second campus may be Steve Jobs's final product. But will the massive, circular building designed by Foster + Partners be his last failure or success? Peter Burrows examines the building's ambitious sustainability plans, questionable design, and the reasons behind its enormous price tag.
"Few architects will publicly question the judgment of Jobs and Foster, but many privately snicker at the doughnut-shaped design. At a time when Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), and others favor floor plans that promote as many chance meetings as possible—a Jobsian virtue—the circle could isolate people and teams. A circle does not allow for much flexibility."
"Aesthetics seem to trump productivity, says Scott Wyatt, a managing partner at NBBJ, a Seattle-based architecture firm that’s designing offices in the region for Google and Samsung. 'I would be concerned that it would be alienating, as opposed to convening.' Rather than making it a great place to work, Wyatt says, 'it seems more like an object, just like the iPhone is an object.'”
FULL STORY: Inside Apple's Plans for Its Futuristic, $5 Billion Headquarters
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”
Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.
Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.
Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”
Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)