Apple massive new campus like giant spaceship (PHOTOS)

Apple's cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs made a surprising presentation of Apple's new campus at a Cupertino City Council meeting earlier this week, drawing comparisons with a giant spaceship.

Apple is growing like a weed, Jobs said Tuesday. The growth has made Apple's existing Cupertino headquarter look small, forcing them to rent places in small buildings scattered throughout the city, located about nine miles west of San Jose.

In order to provide the employees with more space, the Apple has purchased space from Hewlett-Packard Co. in Cupertino, where it plans to build a new campus to house its 12,000-odd workers.

When talking about the futuristic design, Jobs said “It’s a little like a spaceship landed. It’s a pretty amazing building.”

Jobs presented renderings, saying “there’s not a straight piece of glass in this building.” Apple is designing new campus with its experience in designing sleek retail stores. “We know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use,” Jobs said.

According to Jobs, most of the parking wouldn’t be on the surface, but underground, increasing the space for thousands of trees on the property. “It will be a zillion times better than it is now, with all the asphalt,” Job said.

The city officers were also interested in the new campus.

Now that we've seen your plans, the word 'spectacular' would be an understatement, Councilman Orrin Mahoney acknowledged. And I think everyone is going to appreciate what clearly is going to be the most elegant headquarters - at least in the U.S. - that I've seen.

Apple’s expansion also benefits the city. Jobs said, “We’re the largest taxpayer in Cupertino, so we’d like to continue to stay here and pay taxes,” Jobs told the city council. “If we can’t, we have to go some place like Mountain View,” which is the home of Google Inc.

However, Mayor Gilbert Wong said, Apple is truly a technology of innovation, and our city staff and City Council look forward to working with you and helping you succeed here in our community.

Jobs hopes to submit Apple's expansion plan fairly quickly, in order to begin construction in 2012 and move into the new home by 2015.