New mid-April drone footage shows trespasser's view of Apple Park site

AppleInsider

The latest drone footage captured by YouTube videographer Duncan Sinfield peers into Apple Park windows and flies under the solar panel roof of its parking structure, adding additional images of the construction site at night.

"Phase 2" R&D facility of Apple Park, at night

Apparently taken just days ago, the drone footage hops around the nearly finished campus, hovering for floor-level shots of its empty (but essentially complete) above-ground parking garages, then skims the tree tops of the landscaped plot before flying right up in the windows of its central Spaceship ring.

Some of the included footage was captured at night, including views into the Spaceships high-ceiling cafeteria and shots of its Phase 2 research and design facilities flanking the southeast corner of the site (above, top).

While much of the projects ground cover is still missing, it appears that most of its trees have been planted. The interiors of the sites buildings also suggest that Apple is on target to begin moving employees into the new facility shortly.

Originally known as Apple Campus 2, work began in 2013 on demolishing the former structures and parking lots used by HP, followed by rapid construction process that kicked off in 2014.

In February, Apple announced that the site would be called Apple Park, and that its 1,000 seat underground theater would be named after the companys late cofounder Steve Jobs.

aaarrrgggh

Still looks a month or two off from general occupancy to me, but you never know how their phasing is planned.

paul turner

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

edited April 2017

dyno86

I am about 90% sure they already employees moved in even temporarily. I spent sometime around there last week and saw a constant volume of black coaches coming in and out each marked with different letters signifying different apple campuses around the area. Most of them I saw went to Infinite Loop

dyno86

Can see quite a lot just from the road such as traffic moving throughout the campus. It looks like they have a new visitor centre waiting to open near Gate 7 looks like it would accdate visitors to Apple Park for conferences and events

soli

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

Are you applying a cubicle as being bad for all Apple employees? Wouldn't an office have the same effect, if not worse, because it's more of a cage with the same repetitiveness? Wouldn't sitting at, say, a giant communal table also be the same day in and day out environment? How does that benefit, say, the accounting department?

edited April 2017

randominternetperson

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

Cubicles suck, but the "windowless, no-natural-light" part of this whine doesn't apply to the Apple Park building.  Clearly it's designed to let in tons of natural light.

randominternetperson

aaarrrgggh said:

Still looks a month or two off from general occupancy to me, but you never know how their phasing is planned.

[Insert "fully operational battle station" meme here.]

soli

randominternetperson said:

aaarrrgggh said:

Still looks a month or two off from general occupancy to me, but you never know how their phasing is planned.

[Insert "fully operational battle station" meme here.]

And let's keep in mind that his uncompleted Death Star II was also a fully operation battle station.

suddenly newton

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

Those poor, helpless victims who applied for a job there, went through interviews, and got the job. They must have been tricked.

mpantone

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

As far as I know, some of history's greatest geniuses often created their best works in relatively stable environments: Da Vinci, Einstein, Beethoven, Mozart, Picasso, Rembrandt, James Joyce, etc. This is even more the case for ancient times, since mobility was extremely limited.

There are tons of Pulitzer Prize-winning authors who wrote in the same place for years/decades.

So I'd say that it really depends on the person. 

And my conclusion is that no generalization can be applied to history's greatest creators. 

ireland

You can call them trespassers now, after linking to all their videos all along for your use. A computer company. Relax, Daniel.

edited April 2017

jcs2305

suddenly newton said:

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

Those poor, helpless victims who applied for a job there, went through interviews, and got the job. They must have been tricked.

I don't think that was the point of the post at all  actually. Jennifer Eiber talks about the direct affect the monotonous atmosphere of sitting in a cubicle day in and day out has on creativity.  Not about being tricked into working in such an environment. Lighten up for goodness sake. She realized the impact on her creativity but still had bills to pay like most people do.  After 10 years she had enough and moved on.  

macxpress

jcs2305 said:

suddenly newton said:

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

Those poor, helpless victims who applied for a job there, went through interviews, and got the job. They must have been tricked.

I don't think that was the point of the post at all  actually. Jennifer Eiber talks about the direct affect the monotonous atmosphere of sitting in a cubicle day in and day out has on creativity.  Not about being tricked into working in such an environment. Lighten up for goodness sake. She realized the impact on her creativity but still had bills to pay like most people do.  After 10 years she had enough and moved on.  

Are they forced to sit there in a cubical for 8 straight hours everyday? I bet if they needed a break, or some inspiration, they could just to walk around campus. With Apple wanting employees to be healthy, the last thing you'd want is to force them to sit in a chair all day long. 

dsdevries

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

The desks in shot of the video do not appear to be cubicles to me. They look like large desks where multiple employees can sit on and work together. There is only a divider on  the end of the desk to the hallway. There are no dividers between the opposites desks and to the sides. 

nht

dsdevries said:

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

The desks in shot of the video do not appear to be cubicles to me. They look like large desks where multiple employees can sit on and work together. There is only a divider on  the end of the desk to the hallway. There are no dividers between the opposites desks and to the sides. 

In the final shot there were cubicles.  Open space office is even worse than cubicles.  

There's decades of research that shows that knowledge and creative folks need quiet to work and offices with doors allows folks to get into the creative flow of their work without interruptions.  The optimal work place, according to research, is one with private offices so individual work can get done and plenty of teaming areas where each project team can stake out their own space to collaborate and make their own (increasing team cohesion).

/shrug 

It's an easy google.  That folks have the power of the internet at their fingertips mean they don't have to take anyone's word for it but to do some basic research themselves.

Ironically, cubicles were not intended to be monotonous beige boxes that suck the soul out of individuals but an attempt by Herman Miller to create a humane alternative to open bullpens with high noise and zero privacy.  The original action office had standing (woot) and sitting desks and the ability for the worker to customize his or her own space. 

steveh

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

Some people handle it worse than others. I worked at Apple '80-'85, Herman Miller as far as the eye could see, but it seems that interesting stuff was going on in that environment.

My previous employer set up offices (2 per office, for most) for employees, lots of them with windows overlooking a pleasantly landscaped 
open atrium. In fact, the buildings were what is now 1 Infinite Loop. That company, on the other hand, was just beginning a long slide into irrelevance ending in extinction. But we didn't work in cubicles, so it was OK?

haar

steveh said:

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

Some people handle it worse than others. I worked at Apple '80-'85, Herman Miller as far as the eye could see, but it seems that interesting stuff was going on in that environment.

My previous employer set up offices (2 per office, for most) for employees, lots of them with windows overlooking a pleasantly landscaped 
open atrium. In fact, the buildings were what is now 1 Infinite Loop. That company, on the other hand, was just beginning a long slide into irrelevance ending in extinction. But we didn't work in cubicles, so it was OK?

What?.  1 Infinite Loop? ... Apple was not the first company in the building... ? Why are you so secretive. Tell us  who the company was, it was so long ago...

lordjohnwhorfin

haar said:

What?.  1 Infinite Loop? ... Apple was not the first company in the building... ? Why are you so secretive. Tell us  who the company was, it was so long ago...

Four-Phase Systems, later acquired by Motorola.

And wow, these drone videos are absolutely incredible. Amazing piloting skills.

strangedays

nht said:

dsdevries said:

paul turner said:

Cubicles: arghhhhhhhh 
Cubicle "if you put a human being inside a cage, what kind of behavoir do you really think you are going to get?"

The monotonous atmosphere: Jennifer Eiber, who spent nearly a decade working in a cubicle before leaving her corporate jobs to become a freelance writer, said it's hard to be creative in that type of setting.

"There's nothing that sucks the soul out of your life's work then repeatedly sitting in the exact same environment day after day," Eiber said. "It's a challenge to whip up ideas when staring at the same windowless, no-natural-light box every day."

The desks in shot of the video do not appear to be cubicles to me. They look like large desks where multiple employees can sit on and work together. There is only a divider on  the end of the desk to the hallway. There are no dividers between the opposites desks and to the sides. 

In the final shot there were cubicles.  Open space office is even worse than cubicles.  

There's decades of research that shows that knowledge and creative folks need quiet to work and offices with doors allows folks to get into the creative flow of their work without interruptions.  The optimal work place, according to research, is one with private offices so individual work can get done and plenty of teaming areas where each project team can stake out their own space to collaborate and make their own (increasing team cohesion).

/shrug 

It's an easy google.  That folks have the power of the internet at their fingertips mean they don't have to take anyone's word for it but to do some basic research themselves.

Ironically, cubicles were not intended to be monotonous beige boxes that suck the soul out of individuals but an attempt by Herman Miller to create a humane alternative to open bullpens with high noise and zero privacy.  The original action office had standing (woot) and sitting desks and the ability for the worker to customize his or her own space. 

Yeah as a developer i like having my own space, complete with my quirky tchotchkes, lava lamp, etc. nesting is nice. as is an ergnomic workspace -- nothing worse than a laptop on a desk, for many reasons.