Just after Apple CEO Steve Jobs presented the latest software advances in iOS and OS X software at the WWDC 2011 conference he made another presentation. This one was to pitch the Cupertino City Council with the construction of a new Apple campus that Steve says looks ‘a little like a spaceship’.
Jobs explained to the City Council that the land Apple has purchased has a special place in his heart by relating an anecdote in which a 13-year-old Jobs called up Bill Hewlett to ask him for some spare parts for a frequency counter and got a free job.
That land was purchased by Hewlett Packard at the very same time that Jobs was working there. HP has decided to sell that land and Apple has purchased it. Jobs explains that Apple wants to create a new campus there that fits 12,000 people in one building.
This should help to bolster the famous security of the California company by enclosing all of the departments in one large building. That building will be glass-sided and takes the shape of a large disc, with an open area in the middle, and strongly resembles a flying saucer.
In typical Jobsian fashion, Steve explains the benefits of the campus, including the way that it greatly increases the landscape area, from some 20% of the property up to 80%, by moving most of the parking underground.
He also states that Apple will almost double the amount of trees on the property and have hired an arborist from Stanford to plant local trees.
The new headquarters will have its own complete power source, relying on the cities power grid only for backup. He also mentioned a convention center for presentations, something that they ‘have to go to San Francisco’ to do now.
I found the exchange where a city council member asks Jobs why it would the project would benefit Cupertino and Jobs fires back with “We’re the biggest taxpayer in Cupertino.” Bam.
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