City of Cupertino posts further details, renders of Apple mega-campus

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/08/13/city_of_cupertino_posts_further_details_on_apple_mega_campus.html

by Bud • 15 years ago

32 21 15 years ago

appleinsider.com

Kwpolska• 15 years ago

It shall be shapped like an apple.

Bud• 15 years ago

Well, actually, it's shaped like a donut. Which, if you ask me, is definitely indication of architectural merit.

tqgupta• 15 years ago

I hope it's a flying donut.

templaedhel• 15 years ago

Interesting: Apple is also looking to decrease its reliance on electricity provided by the city power grid by building its on-site Central Plant. What are the benefits of having a dedicated power plant I wonder?

mncaudill• 15 years ago

The three reasons that jump out at me would be: 1) Redundancy. 2) Cupertino wants them off their grid. 3) Or they're going to have a unique power footprint that they don't want to share with the world.

bengl3rt• 15 years ago

Unique power footprint... hmm... like a Stargate? A Doomsday Machine?

marklabedz• 15 years ago

A couple of ideas: 1. They may feel they can generate it more efficiently (aka cheaply) or with fewer disruptions in service 2. Maybe they're looking at alternative energy sources to further control their environmental footprint

Someone2• 15 years ago

They probably want to have backup generators for 100% of their energy needs, anyways. To make such a setup reliable, they need to have personnel on standby operating it, need to do test runs, etc.

Given that and the scale of this thing, they probably think it is cheaper to run those generators permanently. Of course they would still need some extra generators to allow for maintenance and defects, but I guess that's peanuts compared to the startup cost of having the generators for the entire building.

jedberg• 15 years ago

The last article said it was mainly so they could use green energy like solar and geo-thermal.

kinofcain• 15 years ago

In addition to being able to control the fuel source, the main inefficiency in a power plant is wasted heat. If you've got the ability to use the waste heat from a power plant, say to heat water, then you can increase the overall efficiency significantly. "Combined heat and power" or "cogen" installations are not uncommon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogeneration

Someone2• 15 years ago

I do not think Cupertino has much use for 'heating water', most of the year.

Luckily, it also appears to be possible to use the excess heat for cooling stuff. That would be much more popular in Cupertino, I guess.

wes-exp• 15 years ago

Maybe they also want redundancy for on-site "iCloud" data centers.

ethank2• 15 years ago

The aesthetics of steam turbines fit right into the Apple ethos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dampfturbine_Laeufer01.jpg

shabble• 15 years ago

I hope they manage an appropriate change of address.

Maybe ∞, Mobius Strip? (Any torus-related puns must be strictly grounded in toplology)

pohl• 15 years ago

One Aleph One Circle?

pasbesoin• 15 years ago

Well, seeing as they have as much cash as the country, it only makes sense that they have their own Penta^H^H^H^H^HCirclegon.

iwwr• 15 years ago

Technically, it's a donut.

ethank2• 15 years ago

Toroid!

zrail• 15 years ago

So, where are the parking lots? I see a building and a bunch of trees. Underground, maybe?

epochwolf• 15 years ago

I remember something about underground parking from Steve Job's presentation to the council.

glenra• 15 years ago

The plan is for (1) a big underground parking lot (2) a separate 4-story parking structure. In Jobs' pitch to the city council, the separate aboveground parking structure was a long rectangle on the south side of the property, near the freeway.

City of Cupertino posts further details, renders of Apple mega-campus

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