Apple Park to open up in April with 2.8-million square-foot ring-shaped main building

Designed in collaboration with Foster + Partners, with the environment in mind, the Apple Park replaces 5 million-square-feet of asphalt and concrete with grassy fields.

Tech2 News Staff|Feb 23, 2017, 12:03:21 IST

Apple today announced that its 175-acre campus called the Apple Park would soon be open for occupancy by its employees in the month of April. The news comes after a long silence and plenty of drone photography showcasing the different stages of the project thanks to plenty of YouTube contributions.The Apple Park consists of several building that are spread across a 175-acre campus.

Of course the UFO-like main building is the highlight for multiple reasons, one of them also being the Steve Jobs Theater, that is a 1,000-seat auditorium with a 20-foot tall glass cylinder at the entrance.

“Steve’s vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment. We’ve achieved one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world and the campus will run entirely on renewable energy.”

The main build itself is 2.8 million square foot in size and according to Apple is clad entirely in the world's largest panels of curved glass.Designed in collaboration with Foster + Partners, with the environment in mind, the Apple Park replaces 5 million-square-feet of asphalt and concrete with grassy fields. In those fields are over 9,000 native and drought-resistant trees. If that itself was not environmentally friendly enough for you, this next fun fact sure will be.

The entire campus is powered by 100 percent renewable energy, that is obtained from rooftop solar panels. With 17 megawatts of electricity available for use, the installation is also one of the largest ones in the world. Additionally, Apple claims that the main building is also the world's largest naturally ventilated building, projected to require no heating or air conditioning for nine months of the year, which is pretty impressive.

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