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Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, promoted by Steve Jobs
and designed by Foster, express the company’s pursuit of perfection.
The exact circular form follows design criteria, and the details reflect
Apple’s innovative spirit: the facade is built with the world’s largest
piece of curved glass, and a carbon fiber roof crowns the pavilion
of access to the Steve Jobs Theater.
At Menlo Park, what appears to be a large anonymous garage is
in fact the new Facebook campus. The elongated volume designed by
Gehry has a purportedly anodyne character, only broken at specific
points – like the two stately stairs of access to the complex – making
a nod to the company’s informal and easy-going aesthetic. On
the roof, landscaped and walkable throughout, the pathways are
interwoven with greenery.
So that the Amazon staff can enjoy nature without leaving Seattle,
the American studio NBBJ has completed three interconnected
glass spheres that function as a huge greenhouse and contain a
miniature Amazonian jungle. The well-being of the more than 400
plant species sharing the office space is guaranteed with an indoor
humidity of 60%.
Lastly, Bjarke Ingels departs from the megalithic pretensions
common to centralized headquarters with two different designs for
Google: for the Charleston campus he works with Thomas Heatherwick
Studio on a textile-like adaptable hangar that can be reproduced in
other sites; and in Sunnyvale he proposes two zigzagging volumes with
walkable roofs that favor contact with nature and a healthy lifestyle.
La pastilla longitudinal
que alberga las nuevas
oficinas de Facebook
tiene un carácter
pretendidamente anodino,
que sólo se rompe en
algún punto para guiñarle
un ojo a su estética
despreocupada e informal.
The longitudinal volume
that contains the new
Facebook headquarters
has a deliberately anodyne
character, only broken
at specific points to
make allusions to the
company’s easy-going
and casual aesthetic.
