Steve Jobs Wants To Build Spaceship-shaped Building In Cupertino

After an amazing start to WWDC two days ago, CEO Steve Jobs went in front of the Cupertino City Council yesterday to present future plans and ideas for Apple to build a new building to house 12,000 employees on a former Hewlett-Packard site that was closed down and recently bought up by Apple.

Steve Jobs began his presentation by referring to the success of Apple which is growing “like a weed.” Their current campus can only fit 2,800 people, as reported by Jobs. He also mentions that the company currently rents surrounding buildings to house the other 6,700 employees in the area. The new plans are to expand upon its current campus.

In hopes that Cupertino will approve his plans, Jobs has already purchased the 100 acres from HP, which just added to the property that it currently owns around the former HP campus. The building is described to be a four-story building that will be circular in shape and house 12,00 employees that it plans to add with the coming years. The current use of the space now is only apricot orchards.

Jobs is thinking towards the future and has engineered the building to be the best impact to the environment while maintaining the beauty of the area. All the parking will be underground and the building is said not to have a single straight piece of glass.

The plan for the building is to be its own energy source, with its own “energy center” that it will use for primary power, such as natural gas and other cleaner power sources, using the power grid as backup.

The area will feature its own auditorium that will be similar to Apple’s current Town Hall, and a cafeteria that will feed 3,000 people in one sitting.

All of the Cupertino City Council members seemed pretty happy with the plans and had relatively no complaints about the building or its impact.

Main features of the new campus:

• Design will include a courtyard in the middle and curved glass all the way around.
• Area will be turned into 80% landscaping by putting most parking underground.
• 40% increase in Apple employees.
• When the project is done there will be more than 6,000 trees across the property.
• The building will be four-story high with a four-story parking structure under the building.
• Cafeterias will fit 3,000 people in a sitting.
• Energy Center, will be the primary power source.
• Other Buildings: auditorium, fitness center and R & D.
• Plans will be submitted soon, with ground breaking next year and move open in 2015.