The CEO Magazine Asia — January 2018

84 | theceomagazine.com

BEST OFFICE IN THE WORLD
“I think we do have a shot at building the best
office building in the world. I think it can be that
good,” Jobs concluded.
As with most things Jobs went after, he got the
approval he needed. In fact, the fawning reaction of the
council members, recorded for posterity on YouTube,
verges on embarrassing. That meeting would be Jobs’s
last public appearance. He passed away less than three
months later.
Now known officially as Apple Park (and
unofficially as The Spaceship), the US$6.4-billion,
260,000-square-metre facility, sitting on a 70-hectare
property in the middle of Silicon Valley, is officially
open for business – a shining glass realisation of a vision
that had come to Jobs while strolling through London’s
Hyde Park.
It was Jobs who demanded that the wood used to
shape the office walls be felled in winter, to ensure
minimum sap disruption to the grain. And it was he
who demanded the stone used in the 9,290-square-
metre ‘wellness centre’ (complete with dual-level yoga
studio) was weathered in just the right way so it would
remind him of one of his favourite hotels.
And it was Jobs who demanded that most of the
parking lots be built underground, to ensure 80 per
cent of the site would remain green land.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL
Applying the same detail-obsessed nature to the build
that he brought to Apple’s epoch-shattering products,
Jobs demanded six-hour meetings with London
architecture firm Foster + Partners, drilling down on
the most minuscule of details.
The door handles, for example, are rumoured to be
the result of 18 months of meetings. Likewise, Jobs had
demanded perfectly seamless fittings between floors,
walls and roofs, outlawing any visible seams or gaps.

1.

The design was inspired partly by

London Square, where houses surround

a park, as well as the Main Quad on

Stanford University’s campus

2.

When complete, 80% of the site

will be green space

It will run on 100% renewable energy

It will use recycled water to keep

its campus green

The building is expected to cost

US$5 billion

FIVE FACTS

ABOUT

APPLE PARK