On which side you want to be?

Steve Job’s plan for Apple 2 HQ

A lot of people were wondering if there is another product that Steve Jobs had in mind before he past away. Actually there is something that we have not seen finished yet and I wanted to share with you 3 videos and some thoughts on that.

Apple 2 HQ

For the first time Jobs spoke to the Municipal Council of Cupertino about the new Apple HQ in 2006. He asked the architect to treat him not as client but as team member. By the way the architect was handpicked- there was no tender process.

As you can see from the video the idea evolved and ended up in what we can see right now.

I am not expert in architecture and writing about the building is not because I can say something meaningful. As a person I like it a lot.

What impressed me was the meeting in 2011 with the Cupertino Municipal Council. As far as I know this is the last time Steve Jobs spoke publicly- the meeting is on the 7^th of June and he past away on the 5^th of October. Obviously he went there despite his health problems because he believed that this project is something important.

It is quite interesting to see that Apple 2 HQ is build partially on a peace of land bought from HP- the same company that gave Jobs as a kid summer job after he called Bill Hewlett and asked him for some spare parts. 30 years later HP was downsizing and sold the plot- Apple was growing and bought it.

It is incredible how one of the most creative persons of our time is speaking about doing the most amazing HQ and he is facing some elected officials. Two completely different universes, for limited time, share one space.

Jobs is speaking about fulfilling a dream and he gets questions on safety, traffic increase and a request for free Wi-Fi. No comment!

Current status- November 2016

The latest drone video is from this month. Several interesting facts on the building:

There is no official data but the investment is expected to be close to 5 billion USD. From environmental point of view the building will use 100% renewable energy, 75% of the time it will not need ventilation and will be CO2 neutral. Around 13 000 people will work there.

The area is 2.8 million-square-foot and he building is more than a mile around. If you put all the glass it will be 6 kilometers long.

The architects are the British firm Foster+Partners. Among their previous projects are the Wembley Stadium, Canary Wharf Underground Station, London’s Millenium Bridge and the Hearst Tower.

Why it matters?

I always hope that people learn- it is hard to keep that hope alive. So the question is what we want to look like- like Jobs or like them?

Getting to look like them looks much easier…

Getting to be like Jobs is impossible but even failing while trying looks great to me.