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Apple HQ among most expensive structures on earth

The new corporate headquarters of Apple in Cupertino, California is one of the costliest architectural designs on the planet. According to a new report issued earlier this week, the company spent more than $427.5m to construct the main ring alone at Apple Park.

The BuildZoom report studied building permits for all 15 major structures at the firm’s new HQ.

The Steve Jobs Theatre, valued at more than $179.4m, is the second most expensive structure onsite. According to the BuildZoom website, its projections are based on minimum costs, excluding temporary structures, demolitions and public infrastructure upgrades. The actual costs, the firm claims, would have been much higher.

The two largest parking facilities, which boast solar panels on the rooftop like the main ring, cost more than $113.7m in construction costs. The Visitor’s Centre at Pruneridge and Tantau came in at $109.7m, while one of the office buildings at the intersection of 280 and North Tantau is approximated at a cost of $115.4m.

Apple also forked out huge amounts on what might under normal circumstances be regarded as niche expenditure. The dedicated gymnasium cost in the region of $16.7m to construct — and the “central plant”, which houses a substation, water storage, backup generators and housing fuel cells, probably cost more than the $35.6m minimum cost calculated by BuildZoom.

The historical Glendenning Barn, which was converted into a landscaping supplies and maintenance store, was also estimated at a cost of around $360,000.

The total cost has previously been valued at $5bn, which means this is one of the most expensive projects anywhere on earth. It was one of the last Apple projects in which Steve Jobs was involved. He reportedly insisted on extraordinary design features such as the curved glass exterior of the ring.

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Chris

I've been a passionate evangelist for Apple and the Macintosh throughout my working life, my first love was a Quadra 605 working with a small creative agency in the south of Norfolk UK in the mid 1990's, I later progressed to other roles in other Macintosh dominated industries, first as a Senior graphic designer at a small printing company and then a production manager at Guardian Media Group. As the publishing and printing sector wained I moved into Internet Marketing and in 2006 co-founded blurtit.com which grew to become one the top 200 visited sites in the US (according to Quantcast), at its peak receiving over 15 million visits per month. For the last ten years I have worked as an Affiliate and Consultant to many different business and start ups, my key skill set being online marketing, on page monetisation, landing page optimisation and traffic generation, if you would like to hire me or discuss your current project please reach out to me here.

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