Apple to unveil its four-storeyed spaceship HQ soon

New Delhi: Apple has created its new ‘spaceship' headquarters for which Steve Jobs had presented the plans to the Cupertino city council way back in 2011. That dream will be a reality soon.Work has finally begun to construct a 4-storey oval shaped glass tower in an area of 2.8 million square feet in Cupertino.Earlier the site was home to HP office. Apple purchased the site from HP and merged it with another 76 acres it owns nearby taking the total to 176 acres.The oval shape design has gained inspiration from the London Square, with a large park in the centre.This spaceship headquarters is also known as Apple Campus or Apple Campus 2. It is nicknamed “spaceship” because it'll have a spaceship-like or donut-like design and house over 12,000 employees.Construction work on the site will be completed in next three years and will cost around $5 billion.The construction work on the project has been awarded to a joint venture of DPR and Skanska – the general contractors. NCM Demolition & Remediation is the subcontractor for the demolition work.Norman Foster, who designed the new campus is the chairman of Foster+Partners. The architectural firm has designed several projects in the United Arab Emirates including the Al Raha Beach Development in Abu Dhabi and The Index Tower in Dubai.The building has giant walls of glass, which will enable employees to look out from both sides of the ring within the donut-shaped building. It will also feature the same glass staircases found in Apple stores around the globe. It will cater to 12,000 employees.The parking lots are underground in the building and that will help contribute to the feeling of being immersed in nature.Apart from the main spaceship building, The site will also have a corporate fitness centre, auditorium, central plant, several offices and several underground facilities.The roof of the structure will be covered with solar panels – 700,000 of them – enough to generate 8 megawatts of power.