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Apple Park Visitor Center

Top ways to experience Apple Park Visitor Center and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

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Apple Park Visitor Center

Welcome to Apple in California. Apple Park has created a special place just for visitors. An architectural extension of the private campus, the Apple Park Visitor Center offers guests a place to learn, explore, shop, and more.

Created to illustrate the intention of building an office park that fits into the natural landscape, discover the Exhibition space within the Visitor Center that showcases the innovative design principles of Apple Park. Then, shop at the Store, which includes exclusive Apple and Apple Park branded merchandise. The merchandise is a highly curated selection of Apple products and accessories.

After exploring the Exhibition and Store, relax at the Apple Cafe. With comfortable seating both inside and out, the Cafe serves refreshments for guests to enjoy as they take in the surrounding olive grove. Lastly, head up to the Roof Terrace, which features a unique view of Apple Park and its rolling landscape.

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Apple Park Visitor Center opens to the public

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11 tips for visiting Apple's $5 billion headquarters, Apple Park

YouTube/Matthew Roberts

The stunning building is completely circular and features walls made out of glass. Inside of the building, which is one mile in circumfrence, Apple employees are busy working on the company's next big thing, like the new iPhones expected to come out this September.

This means Apple Park is a special place for Apple fans and devotees. Many flock to Cupertino, California, about an hour south of San Francisco, every day to get a glimpse of what some call "the spaceship."

Here are a few tips to get the most out of visiting where Apple's magic happens: 

1. You'll probably need a car to get there.

There isn't much public transit in Silicon Valley, so tourists will need to find a way to get there from San Francisco or San Jose. A car is easiest. 

2. The actual campus isn't open to the public. You can walk around the perimeter, but you can't get inside to see either the "spaceship" building or the on-campus theater where Apple launches new products.

Apple CEO Tim Cook explained why there aren't tours for the public earlier this year. 

3. But there is a visitor's center that's open to the public. It's free to the public, located across the street from the campus, and there's plenty of parking.

It's located at 10600 N Tantau Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014, and you can find hours and other details at Apple's website . 

4. The visitor's center is an Apple store, but there's a lot to do there, including an AR experience, exclusive merchandise, and a cafe.

5. Don't miss the Apple Park augmented reality experience, which lets you peek into the campus through an iPad.

6. There are Apple Park T-shirts and other accessories you can't get anywhere else.

The shirts and other swag are a little bit pricey. 

7. If you need a pick-me-up, there's a cafe in the visitor's center with snacks and coffee. On a weekday morning, you might see Apple employees taking meetings in the sunny cafe, and the WiFi is fast and reliable.

Here's the menu — on an iPad, naturally.

8. The visitor's center is an Apple store, so you can buy an iPad, iPhone, or Mac if you wish — or a charger if you left yours at home. There is no Genius Bar or repairs available at the Apple Park visitor's center, though.

9. It's easy to miss the upstairs roof deck, but it's the highlight of the visitor's center. Look for the Jony Ive-designed stairs.

Once you're on the roof, you get the closest view of Apple Park available to the public.

That's a glimpse of a $5 billion building between the trees. 

10. It's a great place to take photos.

The best views of Apple Park are still from the air, though.

11. and if you still can't get enough apple, infinite loop, apple's old headquarters, is a 6-minute drive away..

There's an Apple store here open to the public, too. And it's where the iPhone was invented.

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Inside Apple Park, the Cupertino home base for employees

• Apple Park's massive, $5 billion headquarters is located in Cupertino, California.
• The campus includes the famous ring-shaped main building, a fitness center, a theater, and more.
• Besides a visitor center and gift shop, Apple Park is closed to the public.

Here's a look inside Apple Park, the company's massive, futuristic headquarters that opened in 2018 and cost $5 billion to build.

Apple Park is located in Cupertino, California, a short distance from the original Apple headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop.

The main building is a giant, multistory circle, colloquially known as "the ring" or " the spaceship ."

The cost of building Apple Park

The tech giant reportedly spent $5 billion on Apple Park construction . The ring is a stunning feat of design that blurs the indoor space with the environment outside, which has been landscaped with fruit trees (including apple trees, of course) and other native plants.

The building features incredible four-story curved glass windows, solar panels on the roof, and natural ventilation that reduces the need for heat/air conditioning.

The campus is also specially engineered to withstand earthquakes — its foundation sits on hundreds of movable steel saucers rather than being actually attached to the Earth, a design called "base isolation" technology.

Is it possible to visit Apple Park?

Apple Park is typically accessible only to employees, save for two areas: a visitor center at 10600 N Tantau Ave., and the Steve Jobs Theater, where Apple events are held to announce new products.

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The Steve Jobs Theater is named for the company's legendary co-founder Steve Jobs and can accommodate up to 1,000 people.

The visitor center is the only place the public is allowed on the campus without a pass, and it's free to enter. You can buy exclusive Apple merch there. There are Apple Park T-shirts and other accessories you can't get anywhere else.

The visitors center is an Apple store, but there's a lot to do there, including an AR experience, exclusive merchandise, and a cafe. Don't miss the Apple Park augmented reality experience, which lets you peek into the campus through an iPad. There is no Genius Bar or repairs available at the Apple Park visitor's center, though.

If you need a pick-me-up, there's a cafe in the visitor's center with snacks and coffee. On a weekday morning, you might see Apple employees taking meetings in the sunny cafe, the WiFi is fast and reliable, and the menu is on an iPad.

It's easy to miss the upstairs roof deck, but it's the highlight of the visitor's center. Look for the Jony Ive-designed stairs. Once you're on the roof, you get the closest view of Apple Park available to the public.

What is the capacity of Apple Park?

Apple Park features nearly 3 million square feet of office space and can accommodate about 12,000 Apple employees. That's a bit less than half of Apple's Bay Area workforce.

Who would get to work at Apple Park was a point of contention among the company's local employees. Executives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook and chief design officer Jony Ive, moved to the new campus, as well as software development teams and design teams.

Is Apple Park bigger than the Pentagon?

An interesting rumor emerged after the plan to build Apple Park was originally announced in 2011: Apple Park would be bigger than the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military in Arlington, Virginia.

However, at 2.8 million square feet, it's significantly smaller than the Pentagon, which measures 6.5 million square feet.

Kif Leswing contributed to an earlier version of this article.

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Apple Park Visitor Center

Top ways to experience Apple Park Visitor Center and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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Apple Park Visitor Center - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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Here’s A Peek Into The Only Part Of Apple Park Open To The Public

The Apple Park Visitor Center is the ultimate Apple Store experience, with a roof terrace, cafe, and exclusive merchandise available nowhere else.

If you’re an avid Apple fan, consider paying a visit to the Apple Park Visitor Center in Cupertino for the ultimate Apple Store experience. The beautiful two-story building is the only part of Apple’s massive campus that’s open to the public , and it makes for an interesting peek into life for the highest echelon of Silicon Valley.

The Apple Park Visitor Center is the top dog of all Apple Stores , elevating the typical customer transaction into something that feels even more shiny and exclusive. Of course you can go shopping for Apple’s full range of products, but the rest of the space is dedicated to a full cafe serving coffee drinks and snacks, with ample seating and a pleasant roof terrace.

One of the most interesting elements is a large interactive 3-D model of the adjacent Apple Park , which is Apple’s enormous round fortress of a headquarters. Although the public cannot enter Apple Park, the model allows you to explore the era-defining building via augmented reality . It is the largest naturally ventilated building in the world and contains one of the world’s largest on-site solar energy installations. The gigantic groundscraper is a perfect circle covering approximately 64 acres , of which 80% is green space.

As for the Visitor Center itself, it’s unique for its giant carbon fiber roof which seems to float atop the substantial glass walls. In fact, the roof is only supported by the center stone clad core, meaning that there are no extraneous support beams to block the 360° view. Make sure you grab a seat on the roof terrace , which affords the best possible view of the adjacent Apple Park building from outside, as well as 9,000 drought-tolerant plants in the surrounding landscape.

The most devoted Apple fans will also have a chance to purchase exclusive Apple-branded merchandise at the Apple Store, including T-shirts, hats, playing cards, and tote bags. The Visitor Center is the only place in the world where you can buy these items.

Find the Apple Park Visitor Center at 10600 North Tantau Avenue in Cupertino , which is less than an hour drive from San Francisco. The Visitor Center is open from 10am-6pm Monday-Saturday and 11am-6pm on Sundays.

Featured image: Apple

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Apple Park Visitor Center

Top ways to experience Apple Park Visitor Center and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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APPLE PARK VISITOR CENTER: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

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A brief tour of Apple Park's Visitor Center

Apple Park is breathtaking: Minimalist, austere, Zen. The main building curves through the campus and above the trees, a Ring of glass and solar panels that disappears behind the rolling hills one moment only to rise up and fill your field of view the next.

That's how it looked to me during Apple's September event, when I and a few hundred of my closest media friends got to an early look at the public and press-facing parts of the new campus.

The orchards are still growing in, but it's easy to see them, and the paths that meander around and in between, will be a welcome home to fruit, birds, and runners. No sign of a vineyard, though. At least not yet.

Apple Park is technically located at 1 Apple Park Way in Cupertino, California not far from the original Infinite Loop campus. But for everyone outside of Apple, it's really located at 10600 North Tantau Ave. That's where you'll enter through the Visitor Center, which includes an Apple Store and a Café.

Both follow the company's latest design language — the one found at the newly updated Apple at Infinite Loop store. The scale is similar too, smaller and more intimate than Union Square or World Trade, but with the same earthy, almost communal vibe.

There, you can grab a beverage, hot or cold, and go up onto the observation deck to get an even better view of the Ring and the orchards. You can also shop for. all the standard Apple Store fare, plus some of the same kind of special clothing and keepsake items that were previously exclusive to Infinite Loop. That includes t-shirts, pens, water bottles, mugs, and more. They're all seasonal and rotate in and out frequently so, if you see something you like, grab it immediately.

There's also a special augmented reality experience in the building: A model of Apple Park in its entirety that, when you look at it through the lens of dedicated iPads, comes to life in AR. Move around. Sneaker-zoom in and out, and watch roofs levitate and area unfurl. It's as close as you can come to being a drone flying around the campus.

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It'll be interesting to see how much, if any, of the park area around the Visitor Center is open to the public but the Visitor Center itself provides more than enough for anyone interesting in checking out Apple's new campus, sampling some of Caffe Macs fare, and leaving with a souvenir or several.

The Apple Park Visitor Center opens to the public on Friday, November 17.

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

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Apple Tech Fan? Visit The Apple Visitor Center In Silicon Valley

Apple has a visitor center for those who would like to come and visit them - enjoy a coffee at Apple Park.

Read update

What To Expect When At The Apple Park Visitor Center

Everyone knows about Silicon Valley and how so many of the world's tech giants are there, but it's not really a tourist destination - or is it? There is plenty of big, futuristic, and flashy tech headquarters there - although most are not open to the public (other than being able to wander around the massive campuses). Apple is one of the tech giants that has actually included a visitor center in their headquarters campus so that fans can visit.

For a very different attraction while in San Jose, consider visiting the Winchester Mystery House - an extremely massive and odd building built for the ghosts of those killed by Winchester rifles. After that, head up to San Francisco and see the best of the newest restaurants in the iconic city.

UPDATE: 2023/04/30 14:05 EST BY AARON SPRAY

Anyone can visit the Apple Park Visitor Center (although there are no tours of the campus). Tech nerds and Apple fans should consider a pilgrimage to Apple Park - the headquarters of Apple. This article was updated and expanded with what to expect when visiting the Apple Park Visitor Center (and buying a new iPhone and enjoy a cup of coffee while there).

Apple's Headquarters - Apple Park

Apple's headquarters is called Apple Park and it comes complete with a visitor center.

Apple Park Headquarters:

• Opened: To Employees In April 2017
• Location: Cupertino, California
• Site Size: 1.46 km2 (360 acres)
• Employees: Over 12,000 Employes (In The Groundscraper)

The main building of Apple Park is a massive circular groundscraper and has been nicknamed "the spaceship." The design of the Apple Park was influenced by Steve Jobs who wanted the campus to look less like more like a nature refuge than a typical business park.

• 80%: 80% of Apple Park is Green Space
• Main Building: A Massive Circular Groundscraper
• Visiting: The Apple Park Visitor Center is the Only Part Open To The Public

To that end, 80% of the site is made up of green space that has been planted out with drought-resistant trees and plants indigenous to the Cupertino area of California. In the center courtyard of the main building is an artificial pond.

Related: What's In The Surrounding Hills Of San Fran? More Than You Think

The Apple Park Visitor Center

The Apple Park Visitor Center comes with four main areas, an Apple Store, an exhibition space, a roof terrace, and a large cafe. The Apple Store offers Apple-branded merchandise not available at normal Apple stores (like T-shirts, hats, tote bags, postcards). The exhibition space showcases a 3D model of Apple Park with augmented reality.

• Parts Of The Visitor Center: An Apple Store, Exhibition Space, A Large Cafe, A Roof Terrace

This visitor center is the only part of Apple Park that tourists are permitted to visit. So while one can't just stroll around and have a poke around Apple's headquarters, at least they have created a special place just for visitors.

The Visitor Center is an architectural extension of the private campus where visitors can learn, explore, shop, and more. The intention here is to showcase the innovative design principles of Apple Park. One will see how they seek to stay at the cutting edge of technology and how they plan to go carbon-neutral across their entire business by 2030.

After relaxing with a coffee (either indoors or outdoors), head up to the Roof Terrace where one can enjoy a unique view of Apple Park and its rolling landscape.

Some of their services may be limited due to the current pandemic, if one is planning to visit, consider checking their website to see the current situation.

• Hours: Opens at 10:00 a.m. closes at 6.00 p.m.
• Days Open: Open Daily
• Address: 10600 North Tantau Avenue, Cupertino, CA

After visiting the Apple Park Visitor Center, take the time to see the other giant in town - Google's Googleplex and enjoy a visit of the headquarters .

What To Expect Visiting The Apple Park Visitor Center

While there don't seem to be any guided tours around the Apple Headquarters, but the Visitor Center is a great place for shopping. It is a great place for Apple fans to appease their inner tech geek. Visitors note the modern architecture - including the modern minimalism of the Visitor Center.

The Apple Park Visitor Center is much more of an Apple Store than it is an Apple Museum or exhibition. It is worth a visit for those who want to experience Apple's newest products. The staff are also very helpful and friendly and will explain everything anyone wants to know about Apple's products.

The Apple Park Visitor Center is a place where visitors can have a more practical visit - like upgrading their iPhones.

In terms of merchandise, the Visitor Center also sells exclusive t-shirts of Apple Park. The price of coffee and things from the cafe is also reasonable - the prices are comparable to the prices of Starbucks in the area. Maybe being an "Apple" coffee will make the coffee somehow taste better too.

Related: San Francisco Has Its Own Cuisine, And It's A Haven For Seafood Lovers

One Company of Many In The Silicon Valley

There are plenty more headquarters to visit while in Silicon Valley. One can visit Google's campus for example (but visitors can't enter the buildings there). Some of the other iconic brands may also have visitor centers or even tours.

Silicon Valley is a general term for the region in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area that's a global center for high technology and innovation (even if Tesla did move to Texas). Silicon Valley more or less corresponds to the geographical Santa Clara Valley and San Jose in particular.

• Location: More or Less Geographical Santa Clara Valley
• Main City: San Jose
• Startup Companies: There Are Thousands Of Startup Companies Based There

Other cities that Silicon Valley includes are Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Cupertino.

The area is home to thousands of startup companies and has around a third of all the venture capital investments in the country. Technologies developed there include the microcomputer, the silicon-based integrated circuit, and the microprocessor.

Some of the most notable companies to be based in Silicon Valley are Adobe Inc, Google, Apple, eBay, HP Inc., Lockheed Martin Space, Netflix, PayPal, Twitter, and many others.

So if one is interested in emerging technologies and one of the USA's greatest technological success stories, consider popping into Silicon Valley. See where many of tomorrow's technologies are born. See Silicon Valley on the same day as visiting the iconic Golden Gate Bridge .

Apple Is The Largest Company In The World

Many people love Apple and many people hate Apple. But almost everyone has an opinion about the innovative (if not expensive) tech company. It is grown from "some fruit company" as Forrest Gump put to the largest company in the world today (it was never actually a "fruit company")

According to companiesmarketcap.com , as of the time of writing (October 2022), Apple was the most valuable company in the world priced at $2.2 trillion (about the GDP of Canada and more than the GDP of Italy as per the IMF ).

• Value: $2.2 Trillion (October 2022)
• Rank: 1st (October 2022)

The story of Apple is a fascinating one, and together with the other tech giants and lesser-known giant companies has helped make Silicon Valley into the world's premier center of technological innovation that it is today.

Next: How Best To Visit The Golden Gate Bridge, And Why You Should Know Its History First

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Apple A-Z » Apple Initiatives

The largest Apple product ever made is not something you'll be able to take home to enjoy, but it is something to behold. Apple Park is the company's second campus built in Cupertino, California, and it was one of the final products pitched by the late CEO, Steve Jobs. The massive ring-shaped building is now an iconic symbol of Apple's dedication to design, green energy, and the future of technology.

● 175 acres ● 2.8-million-square-foot main building ● Main building worth $4.17 billion ● Powered by 100% renewable energy ● Houses 12,000 employees ● Worlds largest panels of curved glass ● Largest naturally-ventilated building ever ● 17MW on-site solar power ● 9,000 drought-resistant trees ● 100,000-square-foot fitness center ● Home of the Steve Jobs Theater

Page last updated: 1 year ago

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Apple calls Cupertino, California home, and its main headquarters had been located at 1 Infinite Loop since 1993. In 2017, the company finished construction and officially moved its employees into the massive "spaceship" campus, called The Ring, located at One Apple Park Way.

The campus is surrounded by grass and trees, has an orchard in the center of the ring, and contains energy and design innovations throughout. Apple Park is the beacon of creativity and unity meant to drive Apple into the future.

Life at Apple's new campus was short-lived, however, since the COVID-19 pandemic drove most employees to work from home. Despite being able to hold thousands of employees, only a tiny fraction were able to work on-site from March 2020.

After multiple delays due to the pandemic, Apple was finally able to begin bringing employees back to its campus in April 2022. The move back was slow and highly contested by several employees who wished to work from home, but Apple won out in the end.

Early Development and Construction

The late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs  saw the rapid growth of the company and knew its current campus couldn't last. So, Apple purchased land formerly owned by Hewlett-Packard, a company important to Jobs' history as he worked there as a summer intern.

Steve Jobs personally presented an ambitious plan to the Cupertino City Council for building one of the largest office buildings in the world.

Apple met many of its initial goals within its first presentation of the campus, although it took two years longer and went well over cost estimates . Sadly, Steve Jobs died only a few months after that meeting, and it is known as one of his last public appearances. The campus theater is named after him in remembrance.

In 2014, Apple began the initial tear-down of the old Hewlett-Packard buildings and broke ground. The project took a little over three years to get finalized and ready for the employee move-in.

Throughout the construction process, Apple faced several challenges from buying up all the available trees to city taxes coming into question.

Final Design and Jony Ive

Jony Ive was the Chief Design Officer at Apple, and he has since left the company to start his own design firm. While Apple Park was under construction, Ive stepped away from leading the product design team to take a more personal interest in the construction and design of the new campus.

Ive worked closely with the design firm Foster+Partners on this massive undertaking. His design influences are seen throughout the campus, and he speaks of Apple Park in this interview  with Wallpaper* magazine.

"As a design team our goal has been, in some ways, to get design out of the way," Ive said. "We try to define a solution that seems so inevitable that it does recede." He stated this referring to the philosophy that is behind everything Apple designs.

Even the stairs received such scrutiny. "There are so many connections between floors," he continued. "There are light wells that go all the way down. You have visual connections to the floors and connections by the stairs."

When discussing the building's flexibility, Ive states, "Our building is very configurable and you can very quickly create large open spaces or you can configure lots of smaller private offices. The building will change and it will evolve."

The idea that the building could change as Apple changes was the driving factor behind much of the design.

Shaped like a large flying saucer of sorts, Apple calls the main campus building The Ring. This massive building features 800 45-foot-tall rounded glass panels that connect all the way around the four-story structure. Some of these panels function as large sliding doors, allowing for the interior to be exposed to the outdoors during nice weather.

The Ring uses  base isolation to protect against earthquakes. The isolation system consists of 692 large steel saucers located two stories underground. This system is a modified version of Japan's and will protect the campus from all but the most severe earthquakes.

The Ring's interior hosts large rooms with glass walls and entryways, including wide-open spaces that can be collapsed into smaller sections as needed. The Ring is divided into eight identical segments and surrounded by a hallway roughly three-quarters of a mile around.

The Ring uses natural ventilation to aid in making it the greenest office building in the world, requiring no heating or cooling for nine months out of the year. To further its green initiatives, Apple partnered with First Solar  to provide 130MW of clean energy to the campus and surrounding buildings.

Design rules the campus from top to bottom and will influence the company moving forward. Many consider Apple Park to be an Apple product designed by Jony Ive, his crown jewel before exiting the company and gift to his departed friend Steve Jobs.

Other structures at Apple Park

• Steve Jobs Theater

The Steve Jobs Theater is a 165-foot diameter circular glass building without visible supports. The carbon-fiber roof is the largest in the world, weighing 80 tons. Underneath the glass structure, underground, is an auditorium seating 1,000 people. The theater won the  'Structural Artistry'  award in 2018.

Apple intended the theater for product reveals and events, but that intention was short-lived due to the pandemic. With the company moving to a more online event style, it seems the theater will be used for pre-recorded event showings rather than a live stage.

• Visitors' Center

The Apple Park  Visitor Center  overlooks the campus and is divided into four sections: a 10,000-square-foot Apple Store, a 2,000-square-foot cafe, an observation deck, and an area for an AR experience. The augmented reality area is a scale model of Apple Park that lets you view the campus via an iPad using AR software.

This is the only publicly accessible area of Apple Park. Apple sells limited-edition t-shirts and other merchandise at this store.

• Glendenning Barn

The Glendenning Barn is a historical landmark moved and restored by Apple during Apple Park's construction. It was originally a part of the farmland that housed apricot, prune, and cherry orchards.

It is now used for simply storing groundskeeping tools but still stands as a symbol of community and innovation at Apple Park.

Virtual Keynotes

The Apple Park campus was meant to be the ultimate workspace for its thousands of employees. It was also meant to be a marvel that visitors could enjoy when conducting work or traveling for keynotes. The COVID-19 pandemic made this impossible for months, but Apple made due.

Starting with WWDC 2020, Apple held virtual conferences instead of inviting thousands of people to its campus. This allowed the company to expand its reach to more developers and consumers with highly-produced videos rather than a stage performance.

Apple invited people to participate in an in-person WWDC event in June 2022. A pre-recorded keynote was shown to viewers outdoors via a projector set up outside the cafeteria, then developers were able to interact with employees and visit the newly opened Developer Center.

This mixed in-person and online style will likely be used for events going forward. They give Apple greater control over product presentation while keeping the campus open for events.

The iPhone 14 lineup was revealed at an in-person Apple event held in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in September 2022. A pre-recorded keynote was shown, but products were viewable in person in a display area afterward.

• 1. Development
• 2. Final Design and Jony Ive
• 3. The Ring
• 4. Other structures
• 5. Virtual keynotes

Apple Park Related Stories

Apple execs talk future of the iPhone in ride-along Apple Park tour

Apple executives including Greg Joswiak and Kainann Drance have talked about working on the iPhone, and Apple's intentions for the future.

Apple launches 2024 Swift Student Challenge with an Apple Park trip prize

Apple has started to accept entries to the Swift Student Challenge for 2024, with a top prize of a trip to Apple Park up for grabs.

Tim Cook defends Apple Watch privacy focus in mental health talk

Tim Cook had to defend Apple's privacy policies during a meeting with Jill Biden and political spouses, after an accusation that Apple Watch users are being actively "watched."

'Scary Fast' adds watch parties and gift bags to an already unusual event

Apple's "Scary Fast" is shaping up to be an event unlike any the company usually holds for its launches.

iPhone 15 launch will keep prerecorded video format

Apple's expected September launch of the iPhone 15 range will reportedly be a recorded video once more, with an invited audience viewing at Apple Park and getting a hands-on demo.

Air India is seeking greater collaboration with Apple — but for what?

A delegation from Air India said that they visited Apple Park to discuss a collaboration, but beyond an improved flight navigation app for iPads it's not clear specifically why.

Ex-Apple staff are behind hundreds of top tech startups

Many Apple alums have gone on to found startups in climate, health, and other areas, and they attribute their acquired skills and knowledge to their time spent at Apple.

Apple Park needed an expansion to contain WWDC headset demos

A pair of buildings have popped up inside and outside of Apple Park, with one built to house a demonstration area for its hotly-anticipated mixed-reality headset.

Apple Park faces WGA strike on first day of WWDC

The Writer's Guild of America will be making its presence felt by Apple, with it continuing its strike action at Apple Park on Monday, the same day as Apple's WWDC keynote.

Apple starts selling 'Ted Lasso' merch, but only at Apple Park

Merchandise for the Apple TV+ show "Ted Lasso" has gone on sale from Apple directly, but only from the Apple Park Visitor Center and not other Apple Stores.

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Complete guide to Apple Park

Welcome to our complete guide to Apple Park, the extravagant, multibillion-dollar new campus headquarters that the company has almost finished building in Cupertino, California. It’s an impressive building – but not everyone is happy .

Apple is one of the biggest companies in the world, so it’s no surprise that it is fast outgrowing its current headquarters at One Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California. As a result, Apple has spent years building a new HQ. (It’s since announced plans for a second campus , incidentally.)

The new campus is officially named Apple Park. (Before this was announced, the building was widely known as the ‘Spaceship Campus’ because of its flying-saucer-like design.) It’s located on the former Hewlett Packard campus.

When will Apple Park be finished?

Construction was scheduled to be finished by the end of 2017, and the large-scale building work was mostly done earlier than this. Even now there is still plenty of exterior landscaping to be done, however. Jump down to the section of this article where we post aerial drone videos to see the latest progress.

Since April 2017, the 175-acre campus has reportedly been welcoming employees, but it’s set to take more than six months to move all 12,000 employees into the new site, and some construction will continue over the summer even as employees move in.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple design chief Jony Ive revealed that his team would be moving in during the autumn of 2017, and will be among the last teams to move to the new campus.

There will be major product launches at Apple Park before long.

Indeed, one of the most important additions to the Park is the Steve Jobs Theater, which is likely to be the only part of the building we see regularly. It’s a 1,000-seat auditorium located on a hill, one of the highest points within the Apple Park, and will no doubt be the site of the company’s future product launches – something Apple promised at its ‘ ‘Let us loop you in’ launch event in March 2016.

How much did Apple Park cost?

It was originally estimated that the campus would cost half a billion dollars; the land alone cost $160 million. But (as is generally the case with large building projects), costs have overrun. The budget for the new spaceship-like headquarters ballooned to a little under $3 billion in 2011 and almost $5 billion by 2013, although at this point it was reported that Apple was looking at ways to trim this by a billion.

Apple is known for its exacting demands when it comes to design, materials and so on, but the spiralling costs of this project have caused some controversy. Back in 2013, it was reported that angry shareholders were attacking the project and labelling it as wildly extravagant.

Then again, Apple can probably afford it. A final spend of $5bn is a huge outlay but would still represent only about 2.3 percent of Apple’s gargantuan cash reserves: $215bn in January 2016.

Energy efficiency & green credentials

During the March 2016 event, Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “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. 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.”

Most of the power for the facilities will come from an “on-site low carbon Central Plant”, according to an Apple Insider report . The structure is outfitted with solar panels around the top of the building, too.

Additionally, 7,000 trees are set to surround the campus. Apple has hired a leading arborist from Stanford University to help landscape the area and restore some of the indigenous plant life, including apricot orchards.

The new campus will reportedly use recycled water, too, and will use 13,300 feet of pipeline to share the supply between it and Cupertino.

Design, layout and facilities

British firm Foster+Partners is the architects of this colossal building. Previous projects include Wembley Stadium, Canary Wharf Underground Station, Stansted Airport, London’s Millennium Bridge, HSBC HQ at Canary Wharf, the Maclaren Technology Centre and the Hearst Tower in New York.

In an interview with Architectural Record, Foster+Partners founder and chairman Norman Foster explained that he was inspired by the idea of a London square, where houses surround a park. This eventually evolved into the present design: a circular structure surrounding a large outdoor park.

Foster also explained that, when planning the layout of the building, the architects had to consider the different departments that would need to work together, and considered vertical proximities as well as horizontal ones.

“Of course, you have got an enormous range of skills in this building: from software programmers to designers, marketing, retail,” he said. “But you can move vertically in the building as well as horizontally. The proximity, the adjacencies are very, very carefully considered.”

This open-plan layout used in much of the building – with most employees situated around large tables instead of separated into individual offices – is intended to promote collaboration. But it hasn’t gone down well with everyone.

John Gruber has reported hearing from numerous staff members who are unhappy with the setup.

“Judging from the private feedback I’ve had from some Apple employees,” he said, “I’m 100 percent certain there’s going to be some degree of attrition based on the open floor plans. Where good employees are going to choose to leave because they don’t want to work there.”

One of Apple’s VPs, indeed, went further.

“When [senior VP of hardware technologies Johny Srouji] was shown the floor plans, he was more or less just ‘F— that, f— you, f— this, this is bulls—.’ And they built his team their own building, off to the side on the campus… My understanding is that that building was built because Srouji was like, ‘F—- this, my team isn’t working like this.”

Apple Park, which is more than a mile around, also includes a visitor centre, with an Apple Store and café open to the public.

That’s in addition to a 100,000-square-foot fitness centre for Apple employees, 300,000 square feet of secure research and development facilities, and two miles of walking and running paths for employees, underground parking plus an orchard, meadow and pond.

1,000 bikes will be kept on the site and available to staff to get around the campus. Jony Ive has revealed that employees can travel on electric golf carts and commuter shuttles if they have a long way to go.

There will reportedly be custom-designed 18-foot tables by a Dutch company called Arco for Apple employees to take advantage of in open work spaces to discourage an office-like atmosphere. There will be 500 tables, and if put end to end would roughly be the length of the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Despite aiming to be self-sufficient and earth-friendly, the range of materials used in the construction will without a doubt be the top of the line. “As with Apple’s products, Jobs wanted no seam, gap or paintbrush stroke showing; every wall, floor and even ceiling is to be polished to a supernatural smoothness. All of the interior wood was to be harvested from a specific species of maple, and only fine quality ‘heartwood’ at the centre of the trees would be used,” an insider told Business Week.

Since Jony Ive’s promotion to Chief Design Officer, there has been speculation that he’ll be designing elements of Apple’s new campus, including desks and chairs to be used by employees.

Ive has said that there are four floors at the campus, to minimise the need for elevators. He has revealed that the Apple Watch team will be on the third floor, and his design team will join the executives on the top floor.

Apple Park security

Apple takes security very seriously: it has a lot of ideas and new products it goes to great lengths to protect. Therefore it is not surprising that in planning documents first filed back in 2013 Apple stated that its goal with the new campus was to: “Achieve the security and privacy required for the invention of new products by eliminating any public access through the site, and protecting the perimeters against trespassers.”

In an email exchange with city staff back in October 2013, an Apple executive actually haggled over the location of a single tree. “If we move the tree an additional 5 feet in, the tree becomes a security issue for us,” the exec wrote, according to an LA Times report . “People will be able to potentially climb the tree and hop the fence.”

With the new campus Apple is attempting to cut off access as much as possible to the public – and it is likely that even members of staff will not have access to all areas of the new building.

Aerial shots and drone videos

We’re fascinated by the progress of the Apple Park construction project. In this section of the article, we gather aerial shots and drone videos showing how things have developed over recent months: we start with our latest drone videos and photos and work back to the start of the work.

February 2018: The drone crash

The air above Apple Park appears to be thick with drones, but as far as we’re aware this is the first drone to actually crash into the building. It was eventually located among the solar panels on the roof. Here’s the footage that was taken before, during and after the crash:

September 2017

Matthew Roberts took a trip to Apple’s campus at sunset in late September to showcase just how close it is to completion, and it looks stunning.

A week prior to September’s iPhone 8 launch event, Duncan Sinfield posted this drone video showing Apple Park in a state of near completion.

August 2017

Matthew Roberts’ latest video shows construction wrapping up, as well as some close ups of the Steve Jobs Theatre.

Roberts has been publishing drone footage of the new Apple campus on a monthly basis. If you visit his YouTube channel you can see the videos that show how the new campus has been coming together.

Here’s the some more drone footage of the construction site, published by Matthew Roberts .

As with most of these videos, we have to point out that this was not shot in June, but near the end of May.

And here’s another video from Roberts for May…

…and one for April 2017.

By the end of February Apple Park was looking great, but construction was clearly still in process. At this point there was only a month to go until the headquarters opened.

January 2017

Matthew Roberts flew a drone right over the campus to show you what it looked like in January. As you’ll see, the garages have been completed, and are being used by construction workers; and an estimated 70 percent of the solar panels have been installed.

This video has been labelled ‘Feb 2017’ but we received the link on 30 January so we’re calling shenanigans on that.

Late January also saw this video, from Duncan Sinfield:

Matthew Roberts sent us another drone video earlier in January. The campus was certainly looking a lot more finished than it had done in previous months, but the weather meant that much of the landscape had been reduced to slushy, swampy mud.

December 2016

In December Apple sent photos of the seemingly near-completed Campus 2 headquarters to staff, and these were inevitably leaked. The French-language website MacGeneration got hold of them.

Here are a selection of the ones we liked best; visit MacGeneration for more.

Picture credit for this and the following three images: Apple/MacGeneration

Garden landscaping has started. Apple says there will be 3,000 trees on site

The site from the air

Late November 2016

Here are the two most recent drone videos of the site, both dated to December 2016 but actually shot right at the end of November 2016. Nearly there!

Here’s the second, shot by Matthew Roberts using a DJI Phantom 3 Professional:

November 2016

We return to the building site in November 2016.

September 2016

See the progress over at Apple’s new Campus via this next drone video, shot in September 2016.

August 2016

August’s drone footage showed great progress, with the building looking much closer to completion.

Below is drone footage of Apple’s new campus from April 2016.

February 2016

This video, shot in February 2016, showcases real progress on site and gives an idea of how vast Apple’s new HQ will be.

MyithZ recently posted another to showcase just how quickly the campus is being built (in glorious 4K, of course). You really get a sense of the size of the project, and the scale of the task at hand. Select parts of the building are now recognisable, including the hidden car park.

It’s fascinating to see how quickly the building work is coming along, and it seems that MyithZ seems to agree. Here’s his May 2015 update on Apple’s new campus:

Then, in April 2015, another video of Apple’s Spaceship campus was uploaded to MyithZ ‘s YouTube Channel in 4K:

February 2015

The drone-touting YouTuber went back with his drone in February 2015, showing us how much difference a month can make at Apple’s new campus.

January 2015

YouTube user MyithZ flew a drone over Apple’s ‘spaceship’ campus in January 2015. Watch the video below to see how the new campus was shaping up at the start of 2015.

Apple’s new HQ in London

In September 2016, it was announced that Apple will also be opening a new HQ in London, at Battersea Power Station – an iconic building in London. This building was the cover for Pink Floyd’s 1977 album named ‘Animals’ and led to its stardom. The building is 500,000-square-foot and can be considered one of the biggest office locations in London. Apple plans to move its 1,400 staff in the UK to the new Apple campus, after its £14/$17 billion investment. It’s set to open in 2021.

In October 2016, Business Insider UK shared a developer video showcasing a sneak preview of what Apple’s new London HQ would look like. The screen grab below shows just how big the development will be and how the iconic London landmark will be revamped. We’re excited to see more developments on the London HQ – we will be sure to update this article with any new additions.

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Travel Consultants and Travel Tips

Visiting the Apple Park and Apple Campus

April 23, 2019 by Island Miler

I’m an Apple fan, if you didn’t already figure that out.  So, while in the Bay Area, visiting the Apple Park and Apple Campus was a goal of mine, even if that meant just taking a quick look around outside.  

Getting to Apple Park

After enjoying our breakfast at Tartine Manufactory, we jumped back into our Silvercar and headed out Apple Park.  To get to Palo Alto, we took the 101, the 85, and, finally, Interstate 280.  Once on the surface streets, you’ll need to make your way to North Tantau Ave, and from there, you can drive right into the Apple Park Visitor Center.  Though there’s an above-ground parking lot, you’ll most likely end up in the underground structure as we did.  Parking, though, is free.  

The Visitor Center

The Apple Park Visitor Center is what you’d expect; a glorified Apple Store with a few unique products, an AR tour, a cafe, and an observation deck. It’s an interesting place to visit filled with passionate staff, but if you’re hoping to see something unique (other than the architecture and the AR tour), then you’re out of luck. But, anyway, take a look at some of the photos I took while we were there.

Visiting Apple Campus

Once we finished looking around at the Apple Park Visitor Center, we jumped back into our Silvercar and headed to Apple Campus. The original campus isn’t far from the newer Apple Park, being just 2.5 miles away on One Infinite Loop.

Things are a little less organized at Apple Campus than at Apple Park. Sings are a bit lacking, so we needed to look around to figure out where to park. For what it’s worth, the visitor parking appears to be in the open lot immediately to the right when you drive in.

Once you park, you’ll find an Apple Store right across from the parking lot. This store has a few Campus-exclusive items, though it’s a lot smaller (and emptier) than Apple Campus. Of course, you can walk around and take a look at the exterior of the building too.

Visiting the Apple Park and Apple Campus, Final Thoughts

Honestly, there isn’t a whole lot to see at Apple Park or Apple Campus. As a result, this is a stop to make only if you’re a serious Apple fan or want to appreciate the unique architecture of the Apple Park Visitor Center. Seriously, you’d get a better view of Apple Park by walking around it or flying your drone over it. Too bad I couldn’t find a suitable place to launch my drone since we were pressed for time.

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Our first trip to Apple's spaceship campus

In Sept. 2017, CNET made its first visit to Apple Park for the iPhone X announcement. Here's a glimpse from the inside.

Apple Park -- Steve Jobs Theater

On Sept. 12, 2017, CNET made its first visit to Apple Park for the  iPhone X  announcement. One year later, we're headed back to the Steve Jobs Theater for round two -- and so we thought we'd republish this gallery to give you a glimpse into Apple's "spaceship campus" once more. 

Click through or scroll for more gorgeous photos, or tap here if you're looking for our Apple live show.

In total, Apple's new campus covers 175 acres of land and should hold 12,000 employees -- only a portion of the company's Cupertino workforce.

(Apple already employed 15,000 people in Cupertino as of 2013, the last year that the city tracked that data in its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.)

Apple started relocating employees in April 2017.

Steve Jobs Theater

Apple Park is defined by its main ring-shaped building which is larger than the Pentagon. In the middle of the ring is a wooded area where the circular Steve Jobs Theater is located.

The above ground portion of the theater is defined by glass and topped with a circular metallic carbon fiber roof that measures 165 feet in diameter.

Steve Jobs Theater (illustration)

That 20-foot-tall glass cylinder is just the lobby though. To get to the actual auditorium, you take the elevator (or stairs) down to the hidden underground theater with traditional rows of seats.

Don't confuse circular glass structures

Both the main four-story ringed building commonly called the "spaceship" and the smaller Steve Jobs Theater are made of curved glass.

In this photo, the main building can be seen in the background of the Steve Jobs Theater.

The spaceship from afar

Here's what the spaceship looks like from the Steve Jobs Theater. The sense of scale is incredible.

Steve Jobs Theater and Woz

CNET Editor-in-Chief Connie Guglielmo poses with the famous Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple and a Bay Area legend.

We took this incredible shot just outside the glass walls looking in -- so the ceiling appears to reflect the sky. It almost looks like a cloaked flying saucer is hovering just above the theater.

Inside the glass lobby.

The only way you can go is down.

Apple Park rotating glass elevator

Here's one of the rotating glass elevators inside Apple Park's Steve Jobs Theater.

A stairway down to heaven.

Outside the auditorium etched into stone: Steve Jobs Theater.

There are a lot of hidden rooms underground, as well as a pair of tunnels (one was cropped out) to allow staff to bring things in through a hidden back entrance.

Here's a view of the stage from the auditorium.

It wouldn't be an Apple event without the glow of hundreds of laptop screens.

The seats inside the auditorium each cost $14,000.

A view of the audience gathered for the iPhone X announcement.

One of the underground demo rooms where the press can get hands-on time with new products.

Apple CEO Tim Cook chats with people in the demo room after the iPhone X event.

One of the demo areas underground.

Apple Park (conceptual render)

A bit of history: In July 2009, after several years of deliberation, Apple reached out to British architectural firm Foster + Partners to begin drawing up plans for a new campus, an architectural marvel only a stone's throw from the company's existing Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Originally conceived as a propeller-shaped building, the 2.8 million square foot campus soon became a ring.  An ailing Steve Jobs himself went before the Cupertino City Council to ask for its help a few short months before his death. Members unanimously approved his plan  in October 2013.

Here's an artist's interpretation of how Apple Park (and its employees) might blend into nature.

Working on the roof

And here's a still from some footage of the actual building, which was nearing completion at the time this was captured.

Even the fins are made of curved glass, reports Wired , and they exist partly to protect the glass walls. They keep glare to a minimum, stop too much light from entering the building, and prevent rain from streaking down the walls.

Glass walls

Apple says the building's walls are the largest panels of curved glass ever made. There are 800 of them in total, reports Wired , and each wall is 45 feet tall. But that's nothing compared with the Apple Cafe's four-story glass doors, which (including their frames) weigh 220 tons each. 

You can watch those doors open right here .

Solar panels

The entire campus is powered by renewable energy -- including a 17-megawatt solar farm mounted on the building's roof. 

Apple Park trees

There are 9,000 native, drought-resistant trees planted around the campus.

Apple Park I-280

Here, just north of the I-280 freeway, you can see where the buildings sit in relation to each other.

Aerial photo used with permission:  Matthew Roberts (YouTube)

Cupertino, California

Bordered by Wolfe Road, North Tantau Avenue and Interstate 280 to the south, Apple's new campus lives in an intriguing part of Cupertino that's a mix of upscale apartments, shopping and suburbia. 

Just across the street to the west is a huge Asian shopping center filled with Chinese restaurants, tea shops, a 99 Ranch Market and a Taiwanese bakery, while Kaiser Permanente's hospital campus is to the east. Across I-280 to the south is the ghost town known as Vallco Mall , which began plans for a grand transformation after Apple's plans were underway.

North is almost all suburban housing.

Infinite Loop to Apple Park: 5-10 minutes

On a good day with no traffic, a ride from Apple's current headquarters (Infinite Loop) to the new Apple Park should take less than 10 minutes.

One of Steve Jobs' dying wishes was to build a stunning new campus for Apple.

They call it Apple Park -- but you may know it as the Ring or perhaps the Spaceship.

Aerial photos used with permission:  Matthew Roberts (YouTube)

According to Wired , the Spaceship has nine different entrances, and it's a bit of a walk if you want to circle the building -- the circumference at the perimeter measures three-quarters of a mile.

Here's an earlier aerial shot. Apple said Apple Park will also be the world's largest naturally ventilated building and won't require any heating or air conditioning nine months of the year. Inside, every door has a custom aluminum handle built just for Apple, and each employee has special height-adjustable desks, according to Wired.

Apple Park R&D

Besides the Steve Jobs Theater, several parts of the Apple Park campus are separate from the main spaceship. Here's Apple's new R&D facility. There's also a 100,000 square-foot fitness center that isn't quite as complete yet.

Apple Park-ing garage

When cars arrive, they'll park in Apple's gigantic detached parking garage, which looks like it'd be right at home if it were attached to a major airport terminal. Apple Park will have some 9,000 parking spots -- 3,000 of them underground.

Inside one of the massive onsite parking garages.

Apple Park Visitor Center

The Apple Park Visitor Center  opened to the public  on Nov. 17, 2017, so you can go visit if you're in the neighborhood.  

Visitor Center

The Visitor Center houses an on campus Apple Store and a Caffè Macs (Apple's version of a cafe/cafeteria).

Apple Park Visitor Center opens

We were there on opening day, too.

AR Apple Store

In the on-campus Apple Store, visitors can interact with a model of Apple Park using iPads and augmented reality (AR).

You can buy exclusive gear like t-shirts, tote bags, playing cards and baseball caps. 

Apple Store

One of the changes Apple is rolling out to its stores is to make them into "Town Squares" where people can gather.

The campus Apple Store is the best place to pick up an Apple book.

The public cafe at Apple Park.

Inside Caffè Macs. CNET editor Scott Stein highly recommends the refreshing watermelon juice.

The Apple Park Visitor Center has a rooftop deck that overlooks the spaceship campus. For Apple fans, it's a tantalizing glimpse.

One last shot of Apple's spaceship.

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