We have been keeping an eye on the development of this breathtaking new building over two years now, and finally, it is time for us to reveal its many excellent feng shui features. So we are sharing with readers all the reasons we love APPLE PARK! This is Apple’s brand new campus and it is scheduled to have its grand opening in springtime this April. Here at FSW we are just as excited as Apple’s employees, who will be moving into the building right now as you read this!
This is such an iconic eco-building! It cost more than US$5 billion to build. It sits amidst a lush forest of greenery and it was the brainchild of the late Steve Jobs, who hatched the idea back in 2009, and poured the last two years of his life bringing his vision to reality. Steve wanted an office building that would feel less like an “office space” and more like being in a forest reserve, where everyone can meditate with the birds or take a walk with nature.
We know Steve Jobs was a great nature lover, very much concerned about environmental preservation; hence a high point in his design brief was to ensure that 80% of the site would be covered with native Cupertino flora and fauna. More importantly, the whole building would rely entirely on renewable energy sources.
Solar panels installed on the roof will supply 75% of Apple Park’s power needs during the peak hours of the day, while the remaining 25% will be generated onsite using Bloom Energy Server fuel cells powered by bio fuels or natural gas. Fresh air will flow freely between the interior and exterior of the building, providing natural ventilation and removing the need for HVAC systems for three quarters of the year.
Nothing brings more creative energy chi than free flowing fresh air!
Jobs’ dream has become reality, and it truly is an impressive structure, especially when viewed via satellite using Google Earth (it’s so big you just can’t miss it)!
The entire complex sits on 175 acres of prime suburban land in Cupertino (California) – Steve Jobs had to purchase 9 properties to accumulate the amount of land he needed. The building itself enjoys an abundant 260,000 sq m of space, which will house all of its 12,000 Apple employees, and also offer high-end facilities one would expect from Silicon Valley’s most prestigious tech firm.
Apple Park will feature seven cafes serving partial to fully subsidized meals, a large auditorium that seats 1000 people, an R&D facility spanning 28,000 sq m, a “wellness center” equipped with a gym and showering facilities, and its very own transit bus station. Two underground parking structures equipped with 300 electric vehicle charging stations will accommodate vehicles for up to 14,200 employees.
Designed by British architect Lord Norman Foster, whose impressive resume includes iconic buildings like the HSBC Building in Hong Kong and “The Gherkin” in London, Apple Park was purposely designed to look like a giant spaceship, epitomising the futuristic ethos of what Apple has come to symbolise.
From a feng shui perspective, there are many positive points to be said about this building, but here are eight main features we know will be sure to catapult Apple to a whole new level of greatness in the coming years to come! “Watch this space” as they say.
1. PERFECT CIRCLE CHANNELS HEAVEN ENERGY
The shape of Apple’s new building is a perfect circle. From the sky, it looks like a giant spaceship or a giant ring. Perhaps Steve might have drawn some inspiration from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings epic… definitely, to possess the “One ring to rule them all” has a nice “ring” to it when to comes to forging ahead as leaders of technology! But the circle has great meaning in symbolic and form feng shui, as a perfectly round structure like this symbolizes the element of METAL, which is associated with GOLD and MONEY.
Hence coins in China (and all around the world) have always been designed in a perfect circle shape. And since Apple is a communications and technology company, both industries that belong to the Metal element, a circular building is perfect for activating this element. The perfect circle is also the shape of HEAVEN, hence the shape signifies the harmonious union of mankind and heaven.
That it is launched in a Year of the Rooster whose earthly Branch element is METAL is incredibly auspicious. Here, the Metal element plays a significant role in Apple’s future success. In 2018, this element is completely missing from the Paht Chee chart, so anyone or any company that has a large pool of Metal energy will be sure to do extremely well then. Apple is likely to unveil something spectacular in the following year.
2. ALL EIGHT SECTORS OF THE COMPASS ARE REPRESENTED
What we really LOVE about this new office space is that there are absolutely no missing compass sectors in the office complex! Definitely Steve Jobs knew a thing or two about feng shui, because his design brief from the very beginning was to create eight separate buildings that are joined together to form a perfect circle. These eight complexes as you can see from this floor plan here falls exactly on all the eight sectors of the compass. Steve Jobs spent many hours outlining in excruciating detail how the different buildings should be designed and used. For example, the wellness centre, which comprises a state of the art gymnasium with plenty of metal equipment will be where sporting activities will take place. So it has been located in the Northwest (a location which is ruled by big METAL and is ruled by BIG YANG the Trigram of Chien providing much needed movement energy).
Research and Development and Product design are located in the SOUTH location of the main building overlooking a large stretch of parkland, which co-incidentally is also the Palace of Fame and Recognition! Remember it is Product Design that gives Apple its competitive edge, so placing the all important R&D department in the South is the perfect compass sector for their design engineers. Here is where they will get creative and generate fresh ideas.
3. EVERYTHING IS CURVED (NO SHARP CORNERS)
One very distinctive detail mentioned by Steve Jobs was that he wanted the entire building façade to be covered in curved glass panels. He was quoted as saying “It’s a circle, so it’s curved all the way round. Every pane of glass in the main building will be curved. We have a shot, at building the best office building in the world. I really do think that architecture students will come here to see it.”
But apart from it being a noteworthy architectural feature, from a feng shui perspective, the curved glass also ensures there are no sharp corners or yin spots in any of their spaces. Apple’s new building will not send out any shar chi to anyone else and the curved glass deflects all bad energy that comes into contact with the building. It’s quite brilliant actually!
4. PLENTY OF GLASS (EARTH ENERGY)
Another great feature of this building is that all the walls facing the inner courtyard and exterior of the building, plus many of the interior walls will be made entirely from glass! This allows maximum sunlight and thus, excellent yang chi, to flow seamlessly from the outside into the building, and around the entire building. Glass embodies the element of EARTH, and these days, tempered glass is much stronger than concrete walls. Hence using glass panes for the entire building gives Apple fantastic grounding energy, which symbolizes stability and solidarity. EARTH produces METAL in the cycle of elements; so the glass panels and the shape of Apple’s building blend very harmoniously together.
The energy created is productive, so it will endure and there is continuous good fortune.
5. LANDSCAPED TREES BRING GROWTH CHI
A lot of attention has been put into the landscape plan for the entire complex. We were able to get hold of the planting plan and are thrilled to see some truly wonderful selection of trees that bring excellent feng shui.
In this image here, the dark green shaded areas have been earmarked for planting various species of great OAK Trees.
Oak trees are powerful trees indeed; they symbolize stability, longevity, power and growth. The older they grow, the more auspicious they become. There will also be apple trees and other species of fruit trees planted in the area shaded lime green in the inner courtyard (at the “heart” of the building). Apples symbolize peace and harmony… and of course, fruit trees are always auspicious. They symbolize the fruition of efforts and wish attainment.
6. WATER IN SOUTHEAST BRINGS PROSPERITY
Also note that the landscape plan has been designed in such a way that there is rain and storm water, which channels the water into a catchment area in the Southeast. The Southeast is the palace of WEALTH and this location benefits tremendously from water! A large collection pond in the Southeast ensures that Apple continues to be profitable and accumulate assets that will yield good returns. It is a good bet really to keep buying Apple shares!
7. VISITOR CENTRE GENERATES WEALTH LUCK
Apple’s Media Auditorium can seat a thousand people. The building was designed with no columns; exterior glass walls hold up ultra-light carbon fibre roofs. The auditorium will be for press conferences and product launches. Next to this is Apple’s visitor centre – where tourists and interest groups can visit Apple. Both buildings are in the Southeast, the location of wealth. All visitors, media partners and business associates who visit Apple will create yang energy, which in turn will generate plenty of prosperity luck for Apple! This is Steve Jobs’s big vision of the workplace!
