Apple’s love of design extends to the world of architecture – think of the famous 5th Avenue Apple Store “cube”, the striking design of the new “spaceship” Campus 2 headquarters building, or the futuristic glass cylinder of the Pudong Apple Store in Shanghai, China. Japan’s NHK TV network reported today on the 25,000 square-meter, four-story research and development facility that Apple is building in Yokohama, Japan.
The building will be built over the next year on the former site of a Panasonic facility and – as one would expect from an Apple building – looks quite different. The four exterior walls of the building are wavy-looking, almost looking like rippling waves that evoke the oceanfront location of Yokohama, one of Japan’s major port cities.
Also typical of the new facility is the focus on the environment. The building is expected to use low amounts of energy, will use recycled water for landscape watering, and will have trees planted on the roof. A 100-unit apartment complex with commercial facilities is also being built on the site as a “Smart City” to promote energy-saving and environmental measures.
The Yokohama facility should house several hundred employees at completion. Apple also has R&D facilities in Israel and Florida, does Siri research in Boston, does software engineering research in Seattle, and has facilities that do unspecified research in England.
In other news, Apple reported today that it will be using recycled water to nourish the grove of trees and landscaping at the new Campus 2 building in Cupertino, CA.
Wow! That is stunning! Almost as pretty as OWC’s headquarters. ;)