Apple's new corporate headquarters, the aptly named Apple Campus 2, is taking significant steps toward completion. With about 900 of the planned 3,000 curved glass panels being installed in the massive structure's facade, the project is definitely taking form.
On Monday, the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant teased fans with another announcement, focusing on one of the campus' most innovative structures, called the "Theatre."
The Theatre (yes, Apple opted to use the British spelling) is set to be the place where the tech giant will hold its product launches. Though the structure seems quite spartan on the outside, it is nonetheless quite a marvel on its own.
For one, the Theatre's 1,000-seat capacity and most of its 120,000-square-foot space are located underground, which means that the company's product launches will be done in a subterranean chamber in the coming years. Cool? Definitely.
What makes the Theatre even more unique, however, is its walls and its roof. The walls of the Theatre are made of glass, much like a smaller version of the entire campus' facade. The glass panels, however, are not supported by any foundation. Rather, the Theatre's roof is supported by the glass panels themselves.
Of course, the Theatre's roof is yet another story.
Looking at the Theatre's roof feels a lot like looking at an Apple product. Simple, refined and meticulously crafted. Apple believes that the Theatre's circular, UFO-esque roof is the largest free-standing carbon-fiber roof ever constructed.
The Theater's special roof was constructed in Dubai by Premier Composite Technologies, where it was fully tested before it was shipped piece by piece to the campus' construction site. Weighing in at 80 tons and featuring 44 radial panels that are about 70 feet long and 11 feet wide, the Theatre's circular roof is indeed a massive piece that almost looks like an installation of modern art.
True to Apple's clean, trademark quality, the Theater's construction allows visitors to have a full 360-view of the entire campus. Considering how the campus is set to look, the view from the theater would seem very much like looking into the future.
Apple's Campus 2 is set to become the company's flagship headquarters, running on eco-friendly technology and utilizing environmentally friendly materials. About 80 percent of the campus' 2.8 million-square-foot area would be landscape.
