Apple?s Spaceship Campus: Big, Beautiful and Can Power Itself [PHOTOS]

New details about Apple Inc.'s new spaceship-shaped office building have emerged as the City of Cupertino continues preparations for the 2.8-million-square-foot campus.

When Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs attended a meeting in June at Cupertino City Hall to discuss plans for the campus, details were few. At the time all anyone knew about the campus was Jobs' said it would look like a "spaceship landing."

Recently, however, the City of Cupertino released more information about the campus as the city prepares to either accept or reject Apple's proposals. (During the June meeting, Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong had said there was no way the city would deny Apple the structure.)

According to the City of Cupertino's Web site, the campus --dubbed Apple Campus 2 -- will be on a 175-acre area surrounded by I-280 the south, Wolfe road to the west, Homestead Road to the north and North Tantau Avenue to the east.

The campus itself will include:

• An office, research and development building that will be able to house about 13,000 employees.
• A 1,000 seat corporate auditorium;
• A corporate fitness center;
• Research facilities comprising about 300,000 square feet;
• A central plant; and
• Associated parking.

The central plant is one of the more interesting facets of the campus. According to Apple Insider, the company is looking to not rely on the city's power grid as much -- so the central plant will be built on the site to create a self-contained campus. Along with the central plant, there will be several green spaces for employees to enjoy.

The campus, which is being designed by Architects Foster + Partners -- who are working with ARUP North America and Kier & Wright -- will be reviewed by the city before approval. The city will look into environmental impact, conduct a developmental review and hold public hearings.

The land on which the huge campus is being built was originally bought by Apple from Hewlett-Packard. It will dwarf its current headquarters, which only houses 2,600 employees.

The new campus would be slated to open in 2015.

Here are some more documents on the Apple 'Spaceship' Campus: Introduction, Site Plan/Landscaping, a Floor Plan, and the Renderings.