Exclusive look at Apple's full-size prototype building 'slice' of Campus 2

Posted:
in General Discussion edited September 2014
Apple's massive campus expansion in Cupertino, Calif., has been in active prototype development over the past year, with a full-scale "slice" of the building revealed in new terrestrial and aerial shots captured by an amateur photographer.

Campus 2 Prototype from a bird's eye view



Last summer, Apple initiated construction of a box like concrete structure with an open front and large openings in the rear wall nearby the actual Campus 2 project. As can be seen in the more recent video below, captured by a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ drone, the prototype building gives an idea of what the final product will look like.

From the air, it's its clear that the box structure (in the lower left of the shot below) is wider on the front edge, a prototype wedge of the circular ring building will make up the "spaceship" building presented in the aerial shots published yesterday by AppleInsider.

Campus 2 Prototype


Currently, the box is finished with slanted eves and faced with a wide expanse of glass. The prototype structure appears to be testing the innovative ventilation system previously revealed in planning documents.

The active venting is designed to circulate outside air to take advantage of the temperate Bay Area, California climate in order to reduce the costs and environmental impact of conventional air conditioning. Apple stated that the main Campus 2 building will go without air conditioning or heating for 75 percent of the year thanks to its natural ventilation.

Campus 2 Prototype

Campus 2 Prototype


The building is a full scale prototype of the small scale model Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs was pictured inspecting during the design phase of the Campus 2 project (below).

Looking back

To show the progress made, here's what the prototype building looked like when construction began on the project last summer.

Campus 2 Prototype

Campus 2 Prototype

Campus 2 Prototype


At the time, the empty box was then fitted with ceiling panels and interior partitions were framed out using aluminum studs.

Campus 2 Prototype

Campus 2 Prototype

Innovative construction for sustainable, impressive architecture

Apple's innovative approach to designing and building structures that are both environmentally sustainable and aesthetically pleasing isn't unique to the Campus 2 construction project.

AppleInsider has previously detailed the company's efforts to build a massive iCloud data centers in Maiden, NC; Prineville, OR and Reno, NV, that make use of efficient evaporative water coolers powered by sustainable solar, hydroelectric and biogas energy sources.

Apple Retail stores


At the same time, the company's retail stores--while also built to be environmentally sustainable and powered by clean energy--use innovative construction techniques to create futuristic landmarks and rehabilitate historic structures, often featuring cutting edge engineering in glass, including glass elevators, staircases, elevated walkways, dramatic entrances and expansive glass windows and skylights.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22

    I just realized that paparazzi drones are the future, aren’t they? Ugh, that’s awful.

     

    It’s great that we can use ‘em to see building sites, at least. Hey, they’d even be useful for the actual foremen of said sites. 

  • Reply 2 of 22
    I just realized that paparazzi drones are the future, aren’t they? Ugh, that’s awful.
    HOAs and school districts especially need to get to work on banning these from flying anywhere near their respective areas. It's going to get ugly pretty fast.
  • Reply 3 of 22
    Originally Posted by alcstarheel View Post

    HOAs and school districts especially need to get to work on banning these from flying anywhere near their respective areas. It's going to get ugly pretty fast.

     

    Well, at least private residences have control over their airspace. Target practice, anyone? 

  • Reply 4 of 22
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    So nice / sad to see Steve. I never fail to get a gut reaction seeing him again in situations like that. Such a damned waste.
  • Reply 5 of 22
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,033member

    Yeah, I feel the same way when I see pictures of Mozart.

     

    :D 

  • Reply 6 of 22

    Why are they not flying down and looking at it? Trying not to get shot or taken to court? They seem to be using an operational floor over the actual private property. Is there a law anyone is aware of to for this?

  • Reply 7 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Phone-UI-Guy View Post

     

    Why are they not flying down and looking at it? Trying not to get shot or taken to court? They seem to be using an operational floor over the actual private property. Is there a law anyone is aware of to for this?


    Afaik, there is no law.

  • Reply 8 of 22
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post

     

    Afaik, there is no law.


     

    An area that will get addressed soon and once in the hands of elected officials, watch out.

  • Reply 9 of 22
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icoco3 View Post

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post

     

    Afaik, there is no law.


    An area that will get addressed soon and once in the hands of elected officials, watch out.



    It will, and it should. No disagreement there.
  • Reply 10 of 22

    I like articles like this, although it would have been nice to read more in-depth info (probably not readily available unless you're on the team at Apple involved with the Campus 2.0 project). So much better than all the click-bait stuff :)

     

    It makes sense to have worked up a full-size slice prototype section, but I'd never noticed it before in the prior pictures and videos. I wonder if they based their 75% figure on this prototype section or other modeling (or some combination thereof)? I'd love to get to that figure for my home!

  • Reply 11 of 22
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    To the haters: one size of HQ does NOT fit all. Choice is good.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icoco3 View Post

     

    An area that will get addressed soon and once in the hands of elected officials, watch out.


     

    If walking on the property, one is tresspassing.  If rollerskating across, or skateboarding across, it is also tresspassing. Flying a drone 6" above the ground?  That's gotta be tresspassing too.  How about a thousand feet off the ground?  At that height, you could be crawling across the surface of skyscrapers, such as Willis Tower in Chicago, and that would be considered tresspassing.  But flying at 1,353 feet over the street, peeping into the glass "skydeck" of Willis Tower from a few horizontal feet away? How about 1776.5 feet off the ground?  That'd put you a 6" above One World Trade Center.  Still tresspassing?  How about those news helicopters that hover above most buildings in NY, but under 1776 feet above the street?  How much clearance must they maintain?  Or do they get a waiver for tresspassing?  

     

    On the flip side, homeowners are not even allowed to aim a laser pointer at an aircraft approaching the runway, above their home (yes, it's illegal in some areas). The aircraft is protected.  But the homeowner and resident seem not to be.  You, small person, can forget about shooting those drones out of the sky. "Here's looking at you, kid."

  • Reply 13 of 22
    Photos courtesy of Samsung.
  • Reply 14 of 22
    Well, at least private residences have control over their airspace. Target practice, anyone? 

    I see a big business in high-powered non-lethal Nerf guns and an emerging market for the resale of captured drones.
  • Reply 15 of 22
    Originally Posted by TeaEarleGreyHot View Post

    How about a thousand feet off the ground?

     

    Private airspace continues to 2000 feet, after which it belongs to the government.

     

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

    I see a big business in high-powered non-lethal Nerf guns.

     

    I see a big business in harpoon guns. Drag that sucker down to the ground, turn it off, and sell it. It’s mine now, sucker!

  • Reply 16 of 22
    . I wonder if they based their 75% figure on this prototype section or other modeling (or some combination thereof)? I'd love to get to that figure for my home!
    [/quote]

    Living here in the SF Bay Area, I don't see that 75% figure as anything unusual... we are across the Bay in Castro Valley in a 1949 900 sqft wood frame house w/ minimal insulation..and no central air or heating. We turn on the wall heater in the evenings for a few hours, starting around Thanksgiving, and shut it off by the end of February. Aside from a few hot weeks scattered through the spring/summer, Late August/early September is really the only hot time, when the fog stays away. Otherwise it is low 60s at night, high 70s days spring and summer, low 30s at night, high 50-60s in the winter. So... I think Steve's numbers are pretty realistic! Now if we could only get a little rain...
    -Eric
  • Reply 17 of 22
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by icoco3 View Post

     

     

    An area that will get addressed soon and once in the hands of elected officials, watch out.


    It's been in there hands of the regulatory agency: the FAA, for a number of years now. At the moment commercial drone use is prohibited. Exemptions are made for wild land firefighting, SAR and some others on a  case by case basis.

  • Reply 18 of 22

    A prototype building?  Nope.  That's the home of the Mac Mini engineering and design team.  

     

    The ventilation system is required to evacuate the bong smoke as deadlines near.  After the deadlines uneventfully pass, the ventilation system is again deactivated.

  • Reply 19 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post



    So nice / sad to see Steve. I never fail to get a gut reaction seeing him again in situations like that. Such a damned waste.

     

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mpantone View Post

     

    Yeah, I feel the same way when I see pictures of Mozart.

     

    :D 


     

    Both geniuses for sure.

     

    Nice to see them mentioned one after the other.

     

    Perhaps Jobs is currently showing Mozart how to finish his Requiem by writing it on a 13" iPad, sitting at the harpsichord.

  • Reply 20 of 22
    Under traditional common law everything above your property up to outer space was your property and thus covered by traditional trespass laws. Under United States v. Causby, 1946, this was revisited for the aviation age and the generally accepted figure was that everything up to 80 feet above the highest feature on your property was your property. So yes, there's no law as such that says you're trespassing if you're under 80 feet, but that US Supreme Court ruling about traditional common law and how it applies in the aviation age means that the local cops (who get paid big bucks by Apple) probably won't have any qualms about arresting you for trespassing if you're standing on Tantau and fly your copter at less than 80 feet over Apple's property.
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