Photos show Apple's new $304M Austin campus now under construction
With work underway at Apple's new multi-million dollar expansion in Austin, Tex., AppleInsider offers a first look at the ongoing construction.
Reader Benjamin sent along pictures showing the progress that has been made at the site of Apple's future 1-million-square-foot Texas campus. The new buildings will join Apple's existing facilities on Riata Vista Circle.
Phase one of the project, which began in recent weeks, calls for 200,000 total square feet from two buildings. It will cost $56 million and will be completed by the end of 2015.
Currently at the site, a frame for at least one building can be seen in place, having been built over the last few weeks.
After phase one is finished, Apple will eventually move on to a much larger second phase that will add another 800,000 square feet in the form of a number of buildings. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021.
In all, Apple is project dot spend $304 million on the new campus in Austin, creating 3,600 new jobs for the local community. The facilities will serve as Apple's new "Americas Operations Center.
In return, local governments have agreed to award Apple more than $30 million in tax breaks. The terms of the deal require that Apple provide an average salary of $35,000 for the bottom 10 percent of workers, and a minimum pay of $11-per-hour for contractors.
Travis County estimates that Apple's new Americas Operations Center in Austin will generate $15 million benefits for the county over the 15-year term of the contract.
Reader Benjamin sent along pictures showing the progress that has been made at the site of Apple's future 1-million-square-foot Texas campus. The new buildings will join Apple's existing facilities on Riata Vista Circle.
Phase one of the project, which began in recent weeks, calls for 200,000 total square feet from two buildings. It will cost $56 million and will be completed by the end of 2015.
Currently at the site, a frame for at least one building can be seen in place, having been built over the last few weeks.
After phase one is finished, Apple will eventually move on to a much larger second phase that will add another 800,000 square feet in the form of a number of buildings. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021.
In all, Apple is project dot spend $304 million on the new campus in Austin, creating 3,600 new jobs for the local community. The facilities will serve as Apple's new "Americas Operations Center.
In return, local governments have agreed to award Apple more than $30 million in tax breaks. The terms of the deal require that Apple provide an average salary of $35,000 for the bottom 10 percent of workers, and a minimum pay of $11-per-hour for contractors.
Travis County estimates that Apple's new Americas Operations Center in Austin will generate $15 million benefits for the county over the 15-year term of the contract.
Comments
Originally Posted by coolfactor
I wonder if the orientation of the building is chosen to minimize or maximize solar absorption?
I'm pretty sure they chose landscape for other reasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolfactor
I wonder if the orientation of the building is chosen to minimize or maximize solar absorption?
Based on the shadows in the 3rd photo, it looks like they are keeping the large length of building facing west and east and the smaller elevation facing south (assuming this was taken mid day). So I would say for this building, they are minimizing the amount of solar absorption. It's amazing how much you can save in air-conditioning with the building orientation. I'm an electrical engineer and I work with mechanical engineers and architects all day. Orientation is always a consideration.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetCanada
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolfactor
I wonder if the orientation of the building is chosen to minimize or maximize solar absorption?
Based on the shadows in the 3rd photo, it looks like they are keeping the large length of building facing west and east and the smaller elevation facing south (assuming this was taken mid day). So I would say for this building, they are minimizing the amount of solar absorption. It's amazing how much you can save in air-conditioning with the building orientation. I'm an electrical engineer and I work with mechanical engineers and architects all day. Orientation is always a consideration.
Texas gets hot. They would minimize sun in the windows in the summer if they had any clue, which the architects in Austin would care about. You can tell by the light in the photos that it was getting close to the end of the day. So the building is oriented with the small sides to the west and to the east. I'm sure someone can pull up a map of the road and determine orientation of the building with more factual backing than me thinking the light in the last photo looks like it is a little before the beginning of the golden hour before sunset.
Building design and engineering is a very interesting field but I often wonder why so little effort is put into insulating commercial buildings. And a slightly related issue, is why flat roofs? It would seem to me that a roof would be the most significant surface for heat gain and a flat roof by design offers zip in the way of either passive or active ventilation of that heat. I'm sure somebody has studied this by now, so maybe I'm wrong, I just know those roofs in the south can get hotter than hell in the sun down there.
The only commercial building that I've have had knowledge of the design and sighting had very little concern for the sun. Of course that is way up north where it is snowing at the moment and even in the best if the summer days it seldom gets extremely hot.
Hey All.
I drive by this construction every day to/from work, and I actually took these photos.
I took them this morning just about an hour after sunrise. They are taken from the SE looking NW. The building runs SE to NW (parallel to Parmer lane).
See Map: http://goo.gl/maps/jiyQR
The pics were taken from the corner of Parmer and Riata Vista Cr.
This whole area is now infested with Cedar pollen. A lovely mid December to mid February splurge of allergic delight. The horror...
Originally Posted by JollyPaul
This whole area is now infested with Cedar pollen. A lovely mid December to mid February splurge of allergic delight. The horror...
Cedargate.
Apple is environmentally doomed.
The only commercial building that I've have had knowledge of the design and sighting had very little concern for the sun. Of course that is way up north where it is snowing at the moment and even in the best if the summer days it seldom gets extremely hot.[/quote]
Insulation and energy performance are taken pretty seriously; California has their energy code, and most other states adopt ASHRAE 90.1 energy performance requirements. One thing to understand about insulation though is its effectiveness is a function of the temperature difference between outside and inside-- 75 inside and 110 outside requires less insulation than 65 inside and 0 outside. When a building is hot in the summer, it is generally because the air conditioning system is not designed for the worst-case temperature, but something around the 98th percentile.
Flat roofs are generally more about construction costs and building heat limits than energy efficiency. Pitched roofs make the most sense when you have torrential rains or snow.
Solar heat gain is tricky-- people want to see outside, so you have to strike a balance. Shading structures and plants are great, but introduce their own problems.
And lastly... Comfort is a function of temperature, humidity, radiant surface temperatures, and air velocity. Predicting comfort is a bit of dark magic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolfactor
I wonder if the orientation of the building is chosen to minimize or maximize solar absorption?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
I'm pretty sure they chose landscape for other reasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetCanada
Based on the shadows in the 3rd photo, it looks like they are keeping the large length of building facing west and east and the smaller elevation facing south (assuming this was taken mid day). So I would say for this building, they are minimizing the amount of solar absorption. It's amazing how much you can save in air-conditioning with the building orientation. I'm an electrical engineer and I work with mechanical engineers and architects all day. Orientation is always a consideration.
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Originally Posted by Bandman999
I'd venture to say that the shape of the available lot is the primary driver of the building's orientation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phone-UI-Guy
Texas gets hot. They would minimize sun in the windows in the summer if they had any clue, which the architects in Austin would care about. You can tell by the light in the photos that it was getting close to the end of the day. So the building is oriented with the small sides to the west and to the east. I'm sure someone can pull up a map of the road and determine orientation of the building with more factual backing than me thinking the light in the last photo looks like it is a little before the beginning of the golden hour before sunset.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
I'm thinking existing roads are a factor here.
Building design and engineering is a very interesting field but I often wonder why so little effort is put into insulating commercial buildings. And a slightly related issue, is why flat roofs? It would seem to me that a roof would be the most significant surface for heat gain and a flat roof by design offers zip in the way of either passive or active ventilation of that heat. I'm sure somebody has studied this by now, so maybe I'm wrong, I just know those roofs in the south can get hotter than hell in the sun down there.
The only commercial building that I've have had knowledge of the design and sighting had very little concern for the sun. Of course that is way up north where it is snowing at the moment and even in the best if the summer days it seldom gets extremely hot.
Approximately 10,000 years from now Scientists will determine that the foundation of this long-absent structure was perfectly aligned to point out where the sun would rise during the winter solstice. Much debate will go on for centuries regarding the symbol left behind that represents a deformed sun being consumed by some mysterious force while a gigantic solar flare erupts from the polar region.
A small but vocal group of religious nuts will insist that the symbol has something to do with original sin, but they lack any scientific basis for their claim.
I thought so. It's pretty close to the existing Apple building.