Apple Park

OLIN was commissioned to completely redevelop the former Hewlett Packard computer company’s headquarters to create a new home for Apple. The team developed a vision to recreate a rolling topography throughout the site, characteristic of the surrounding natural condition of the Santa Clara Valley and the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The site features native woodlands and meadows, orchards, walking and biking trails, and a central gathering space with apple groves, seating areas, and a pond.

Several portions of the Apple Park landscape are designed over structure, including the landscape covering the parking access road and the landscape surrounding the Steve Jobs Theater.

Before Apple Park, this was a corporate office site that was 80% built space (buildings and pavement) and 20% green space. Today, it’s the exact opposite. This 175-acre campus is 20% built space and 80% open green space. The dense greenery cleans and filters the air, removing tons of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. We used the 2 million cubic yards of soil excavated during construction to create the Park’s hills and berms, eliminating the off-haul of over 140,000 truckloads of soil and their associated emissions. We also recycled and re-used over 90% of the concrete from the office buildings that were on this site in the construction of Apple Park.

In designing Apple Park, we were inspired by California landscapes, particularly the native oaks and foothills, and the once prominent orchards of this region. In recognition of the agricultural heritage of Santa Clara Valley, we planted over 700 fruit trees at Apple Park including plums, apricots, cherries, and of course, apples. Many of the over 7000 trees we planted here are drought tolerant.

Location
Cupertino, CA

Owner
Apple Inc.

Status
Completed 2018

Key Team Members
Laurie Olin, Design Partner
Skip Graffam, Managing Partner
Dennis McGlade, Partner
Sarah Leaskey, Project Manager
Judy Venonsky, Living Systems Specialist
Carlos Hernandez, Construction Manager
Josh Leaskey, Director of Professional Practice
Nick Mitchell, Associate
Eve Kootchick, Associate

Certification
LEED Platinum

Awards
2017, dezeen, Most Significant Building of 2017

Photography by Sahar Coston-Hardy / Esto