Jobs’ Spaceship Apple HQ: A Dream 30 Years In The Making

Steve Jobs recently approached the Cupertino City Council with what seemed like the crazy vision of building a spaceship-like campus for Apple HQ. It turns out he had the same dream back in 1983. And it was just as ambitious.

Back in those more youthful days, Jobs approached the newly-elected mayor of San Jose, Tom McEnery, with a plan that would forever change their fortunes. His’ idea was something out of storybooks, “a shimmery glass structure surrounded by oaks and grasses”. He had even hired renowned architect I.M. Pei, the man responsible for the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, for the job. While viewing Coyote Valley – deemed to be the next frontier in development – for the first time, Jobs was “unequivocal about the vision he saw there”, envisioning a campus that incorporated the landscape into the design.

It was a plan that would never be realised. Even though Apple finally bought the property, Jobs was forced out before anything more than in-fighting could be done. It would be a full 28 years before he got his second chance. And, even after all that time, the dream never died. [Mercury News]