New headquarters Apple reached the perfect limit of construction: 30 pages of instructions on wood, 1 and a half years on the door handle, nanometer standard ...

The final "product" of Steve Jobs - is Apple's latest headquarters in Cupertino, California - is a "future" campus, focused on every detail. From the arrangement of the wiring system, to how to place the underground pipes, every small part of the building system with an area of ​​260,000 square meters has been meticulously cared for.

But, building a building perfectly is not an easy task - the members who participated in the building's construction process have the same idea.

Since Apple announced its plan to build a new "headquarters" in 2011, the time when the group will officially relocate its headquarters has to be stepped back. Steve Jobs's original plan was to complete this project by 2015, but according to people involved in the project, it was not until the spring of this year that everything was officially finalized. The procedure for getting the city approved the "contribution" project is not small to this delay.

Apple has not disclosed any official information about the cost of building a new "headquarters", but the former manager of this project estimates that this amount will be about $ 5 billion . Of which, more than $ 1 billion was spent on the interior of the main building.

With such a project that takes so much time and effort, some people in architecture have "questioned" whether Apple is investing in the right direction or not. According to professor Louise Mozingo at UC Berkeley, the headquarters is "outside" the tendency of "open" offices to be built to enhance the efficiency of cooperation at work. The main office building - a giant ring of glass, compared to a spaceship - can make it difficult for people to travel back and forth.

"Apple's goal is not to maximize the efficiency of the office, but to create a symbolic space for the group," Ms. Louise added.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment on this issue.

The largest glass ring in the world

According to the 2013 plan, when completed, Apple's headquarters can accommodate a maximum of 14,200 employees. The main building, where the largest glass ring in the world, will be covered by thousands of green canopy. There will be almost nothing left of the cement-filled campus Apple has received from HP, except for a rudimentary house that is a century old and is "preserved" by the corporation.

But what surprised the people involved in this project was that Apple's management considered the construction of the new headquarters, the same way they designed and manufactured pocket electronics.

And so, there are many laws laid down in the design and construction process, such as: No pipes are allowed to reflect on the glass surface, along with more than 30 pages of instructions on the specific types of wood used. in building construction.

Differences in the distance and size of the material, is also what Apple focused attention.For normal projects, the maximum allowed size error is about 1/8 inch; however, the error this group requires is much smaller - even for the underlying architecture.

Apple's sharp design capabilities contribute significantly to increasing the quality of this project, but their expectations are not always consistent with the actual conditions of construction - an architect. share idea.

"You can limit very small errors in the manufacturing process of the phone. However, with large designs such as buildings, such errors are completely unstable. . - This architect adds.

This project provides full-time jobs for about 13,000 construction workers, but also creates a significant pressure on contractors.The first two contractors, Skanska USA and DPR Construction, gave up shortly after the project began - which, according to architectural experts, is extremely rare for such a large project. The cause of this is still a mystery. Neither Apple, nor its stakeholders, declined to comment on this matter.

Loyal to the design principles

Apple's creativity in this new "Headquarters" manifests itself in many respects. Architect German de la Torre, points out that a lot of the details of this project are "faithful" to Apple's product designs, such as at the corners of a building. The elevator button looks quite similar to the "Home" button on iPhones.

"After years of experimenting, perhaps they have created a 'set of rules' of design, and Apple products just 'follow that' only," de la Torre said.

At the beginning of the project, Apple's management told the construction department that the ceiling - made up of carefully polished large concrete slabs - needed to be "spotless" from the inside out. And so, thousands of concrete ceilings, one by one, have to undergo thorough inspection and supervision from both Apple and the contractor, once at the point of sale and once at construction site.

"Even the invisible parts of the building are important to Apple."

One of the most controversial issues during the construction process, lies in the doors. Apple wants their doors to be absolutely flat, not threshold. Despite all comments of the construction team, Apple still upheld its opinion.

"We have spent months trying to find ways to avoid this problem, because the amount of time and effort it takes, especially this has never been done before."

And so, over and over, Apple supervisors spent the entire month monitoring and perfecting the smallest details, creating a chain effect that made the progress of the construction areas. Other were also pushed back.

The installation of signs and signs should also be balanced: both to ensure the aesthetics of the minimalist design required by Apple, but also to ensure that in an emergency such as a fire, can help people leave the building quickly and conveniently.

According to Dirk Mattern, representing Santa Clara's fire headquarters, he had to attend no less than 15 meetings about these signs.

"From childhood until now I have never spent much time with signs like that" - he shared.

As a picture

When Apple contacted Holder Construction and Rudolph & Stetten to complete the main construction phase in 2015, one of the first issues discussed was the doorknob for offices and meeting rooms.

After many months of work, the final product has been "passed" by an inspection committee at Apple. And although, according to the construction team, the door handle is "inch-by-inch", Apple still asks for another product.Even a year and a half later, after much debate, Apple has not achieved satisfaction with its door handles.

When the construction is completed, perhaps, the only fingerprint match that can be found at the site will belong to Steve Jobs. Because of this, workers often wear gloves to avoid damaging delicate construction materials.

"This is like a picture you never could have touched," said Brett Davis, regional director of the District 16 handicraft board. "This is a must-visit place, if Apple agrees to let you set foot in their headquarters," he added.

Consult Reuters / Venture Beat