What looks like a giant spaceship parked in the lush flats of Cupertino, California is actually tech giant Apple’s new HQ. Fittingly named the Apple Park, this stunning architecture sprawls across acres of land 176 acres of land and might just be one of the most stunning campuses in the world. Despite this incredibly futuristic looks, the Apple Park has been a long time in the making with Steve Jobs first announcing the project way back in 2006. It took eight long years of planning proposals and permit applications. But by 2014, construction was well underway and by 2017, the vast Apple workforce was already starting to move in. The massive ring-shaped building is now an iconic symbol of the Apple brand and is a fantastic testament to the company’s dedication of effortless design sustainability and the future of technology. It was originally estimated that the campus would cost just half a billion dollars to put together. However, the land alone cost 160 million dollars and the cost quickly started to overrun. By 2011, the budget in place had multiplied to a little under 3 billion dollars, and when it was all settled and done, Apple were looking at a bill closer to 5. A 5 billion build is a big sum of money for any company to justify any company except Apple that is who’s currently worth two trillion dollars, and is estimated to profit around 60 billion dollars by the end of this year alone. So where was all that money spent and what makes the Apple Park so incredible. For starters, the campus is made up of multiple building, however, 80% of the land is still considered to be green space. Apple and the designers put a lot of effort into making the park fit seamlessly into nature, planting over 9000 drought resistant trees throughout the grounds, including cherry, apricot, olive and of course, a few varieties of Apple. To encourage workers to maintain a healthy lifestyle, the grounds features 3.2 kilometers worth of various walking and running trails, as well as 1000 bikes that can be used to commute between the buildings. Other lifestyle facilities include a gym wellness center and a couple of basketball courts. There’s also a huge two-story yoga studio where the desk jockeys can wind down and ease out their back pain.
