Beam Me Up, Scotty: Apple’s Futuristic Campus

Larger than the Pentagon, the new building mimics the company's smooth, shiny, softly rounded, minimalist products. That means lots of polished concrete, but not in the usual places. Have your crews ever had to do this?

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One of the last things Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs did before his death in 2011 was present designs for the company’s Apple 2 Campus in Cupertino, Calif. Clad in curved glass, a four-story ring that encircles acres of green space looks like a spaceship.

Jobs was notorious for being extremely extremely detail-oriented, extremely secretive, and extremely picky. Every surface must be highly polished and no seams or gaps may show.

Some ceilings are polished concrete, which we’d never heard of. Granted, the ceilings are made of concrete panels, but still — how would you pull that off?! We’ve written about the difficulties of polishing vertical surfaces, which can be stunningly beautiful, but how would you polish a ceiling?! Share your experiences at sjohnston@hanleywood.com.

About the Author

Stephanie Johnston

As editor in chief, Stephanie Johnston oversees Public Works’ print magazine, website, e-newsletters, and digital initiatives. Before joining the staff 10 years ago, she worked on publications owned by the American Bar Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, and agriculture-industry publisher Century Communications. In 2015, she became editor of Concrete Construction sister publication Concrete Surfaces. She has a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and lives in a Chicago suburb. E-mail sjohnston@hanleywood.com or follow her on Twitter at @StephanieatPW.

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