Several drone enthusiasts have been making regular flyover videos of the location ever since work started there around three years ago, posting their aerial adventures on YouTube.
The latest (above), from Matthew Roberts, gathers together snippets from videos shot over the last six months, highlighting construction progress on the spaceship’s various features, most of which look pretty much built.
Besides the striking hoop-shaped centerpiece, the video also shows the entrance to the underground, 1,000-seat auditorium, the roof of which features the largest freestanding carbon-fiber roof ever made. We also see the enormous research and development facility where Jony Ive and his team will be based, as well as the fitness center and main parking garages.
There’s also an update on the “mountain of dirt,” which actually still looks a lot like a mountain of dirt. However, expect it to be fully landscaped come opening time. Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the feature earlier this year, telling Vogue, “Hard to know which is more beautiful, the building or that pile of dirt.”
In a bid to reduce its future dependence on non-renewable energy sources, Apple’s grand facility incorporates a large number of biogas fuel cells and solar panels designed to generate a collective 20 megawatts of power, which should be enough to take care of 75 percent of the building’s power requirements.
The latest video shows that while the buildings look close to completion, the main work now will be to get the grass, trees, and other green features in place across the 176-acre site, which is likely to be 80 per cent landscaped once all the work is complete.
Designed by British architecture firm Foster and Partners, the $5 billion project was the long-time ambition of Steve Jobs, who helped develop the plan until his death in 2011.
But the company isn’t stopping with its spaceship campus. At the end of last year, the tech giant signed a deal with Landbank Investments for additional office space at a site just a few miles from its current base in Cupertino.
Designed by global architecture firm HOK, the stunning construction will feature three six-story buildings for around 3,000 workers. As with its spaceship campus, there’ll also be plenty of greenery, with rooftop gardens and lots of trees dotted throughout the grounds.
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