Ghost of a flea: The mothership has landed

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June 10, 2011

The mothership has landed

Steve Jobs' presentation to the Cupertino City Council avoids empty bromides about sustainability in design by calmly, clearly explaining the benefits of what Apple proposes for its new main campus. These include and acknowledge Cupertino's tax base alongside a power plant whose environmental benefits are advanced alongside Apple's productivity and the need for a power source more reliable than California's public grid.

The new Apple HQ would be a huge, four-story doughnut-shaped building, designed to house 12,000 employees. Apple has 9,500 now, but only 2,600 are at One Infinite Loop with the rest spread out all over town in rented buildings, Jobs told the council. The land itself — purchased from Hewlett-Packard, where Jobs once had a summer job — would go from 20 percent landscaped to 80 percent, with 90 percent of the parking in a four-level underground garage.

There is lots and lots of glass in the proposed design, and it is all curved — “We know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use,” Jobs said, based on the company’s bricks-and-mortar business.

Jobs is gracious in deflecting a grasping councilor, oblivious to what she has just seen and after "free" wifi (she doubles down and asks for "free" iPads), as a quid pro quo for giving Apple the go ahead. Not only is the project inspirational, the presentation is a reassuring example of municipal government working properly alongside a business magnate who understands his civic responsibilities in light of his responsibility to his employees. Glassy eyed Apple enthusiasts annoy me to no end but I tip my hat to Steve Jobs regardless. You could use this presentation to teach rhetoric.

For example: Mac cultists are suffering cognitive dissonance about the mothership, claiming the building planning process is broken when a business can make decisions about where to locate. Cult of Mac's love of Apple is pure (tragically, at a distance) but Cupertino city councilors are just fanboys (who got to meet Steve Jobs).

Posted by Ghost of a flea at June 10, 2011 05:48 AM