Apple’s “spaceship” campus construction site may be officially off-limits to regular folks, but that hasn’t stopped curious types from accessing the area using camera-equipped drones.
A steady stream of flyover videos have been showing up on YouTube ever since workers started bulldozing the land last year, clearing the way for a sprawling campus set to house around 13,000 Apple employees.
The latest video, shot this month by Silicon Valley resident Duncan Sinfield, shows the dramatic design really taking shape, suggesting the main building should be ready to open its doors by the end of next year. A DJI Inspire 1 drone with a built-in 4K video camera was used to capture the footage.
Whereas most of the drone videos showing the construction site comprise a flyover and little else, Sinfield has added to his a soundtrack of Steve Job’s 2011 pitch to Cupertino City Council as he sought permission for his ambitious plan.
And to give us an idea of how much progress has been made within the space of a month, Sinfield has also included footage shot at the start of last month together with explanatory notes on what you’re seeing. It’s the most informative drone video we’ve seen so far and clearly shows how the project is coming along.
Besides the main donut-like structure, we can now clearly see the positions and layout of the separately located underground auditorium, as well as the R&D facility where Jony Ive and his crew will be doing their best to ensure Apple’s longevity by trying to cook up other big-selling products for the tech firm.
Apple’s new site, which sits on land once owned by Hewlett-Packard, spreads across 176 acres. The main building, designed with a solar-panel roof, will incorporate office space across four floors, while the campus as a whole will include fitness centers, dining facilities, the previously mentioned R&D facility and 1,000-seat underground auditorium, and jogging paths weaving through its expansive grounds.
The campus was designed by UK architect Norman Foster, who worked closely on the plan with Steve Jobs up until the Apple co-founder’s untimely death in 2011.
