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Foster+Partners' Apple Park visitor center opens to the public

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Foster+Partners' Apple Park visitor center opens to the public

The Visitor Center at the new Foster+Partners–designed Apple campus in Cupertino, California is now open to the public.

According to a press release issued by the design team, the new visitor center will act as an “exclusive public gateway” to Apple Park, the official designation for the recently-opened 2.8 million-square-foot office campus. The visitor center features a roof terrace, quartz stone cladding, and marble finishes, among other features. These design elements are deployed in the visitor center in order to give the public a glimpse of the sumptuous finishes utilized in the office building proper, which is not open to the public and is accessible only via automobile. The visitor center also features a small exhibition space showcasing a scale model of Apple Park as well as a small cafe.

Images released to commemorate the opening depict rounded glass walls and a thin wood and carbon fiber canopy topping the center’s most public facade. The images also showcase interior design elements like a quartz-wrapped staircase similar to those deployed throughout the campus’s office areas.

In the press release, Stefan Behling, head of studio at Foster + Partners said, “The idea was to create a delicate pavilion where visitors can enjoy the same material palette and meticulous detailing seen in the Ring Building in a relaxed setting, against the backdrop of Apple Park.”

The public visitor center is located within an olive grove, part of the OLIN-designed campus landscape plan, which includes 175-acres of woodlands, drought-tolerant plants, fruit trees, and expansive earthworks. The Philadelphia-based landscape architects planted over 9,000 tree specimens for the project.

The campus has been criticized from all sides since opening earlier this year for its budget, internal layout, and mono-functional programming, among other aspects.

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