flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

New $5 Billion Apple Headquarters Has a Glass Problem

Glass and Glazing

New $5 Billion Apple Headquarters Has a Glass Problem

The substantial use of glass on the interior of Apple Park has caused headaches for some employees, literally.


By David Malone, Associate Editor | March 5, 2018
Apple Headquarters Building - New $5 Billion Apple Headquarters Has a Glass Problem

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Apple Park, the $5 billion Apple headquarters building in Cupertino, Calif., is as futuristic an office as you are likely to find. In order to create a sleek, futuristic aesthetic for employees, the complex’s design incorporated an extensive amount of glass walls and partitions. While the glass helps to create an open, airy floor plan, there appears to be an unintended consequence to all of the transparent walls.

As CBS San Francisco reports, employees are having difficulty seeing the glass walls and, as a result, are running into them, often times injuring themselves. That’s right, while some new buildings such as U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota have had issues with their extensive use of glass proving harmful to bird populations, Apple’s new campus is proving just as difficult to navigate for its human employees.

On more than one occasion calls have been placed to 911 describing employees that are bleeding or disoriented after colliding with the partitions. The current solution for the deleterious walls has been to stick small white stickers on the glass panes to help make them more visible. Whether a more permanent solution will be found remains to be seen.

Related Stories

Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022

Top 80 Engineering Firms for 2022

Kimley-Horn, Tetra Tech, Langan, and NV5 head the rankings of the nation's largest engineering firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.

| Aug 22, 2022

For Gen Z, “enhanced communication” won’t cut it

As the fastest-growing generation, Generation Z, loosely defined as those born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, has become a hot topic in conversations surrounding workplace design.

Giants 400 | Aug 21, 2022

Top 110 Architecture/Engineering Firms for 2022

Stantec, HDR, HOK, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.

Giants 400 | Aug 20, 2022

Top 180 Architecture Firms for 2022

Gensler, Perkins and Will, HKS, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.

Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022

2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms

Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories. 

Daylighting | Aug 18, 2022

Lisa Heschong on 'Thermal and Visual Delight in Architecture'

Lisa Heschong, FIES, discusses her books, "Thermal Delight in Architecture" and "Visual Delight in Architecture," with BD+C's Rob Cassidy. 

| Aug 17, 2022

IBM’s former office buildings in Boca Raton turn into a modern tech campus

Built in 1968, the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC), at 1.7 million square feet, is the largest office campus in Florida.

| Aug 9, 2022

Work-from-home trend could result in $500 billion of lost value in office real estate

Researchers find major changes in lease revenues, office occupancy, lease renewal rates.

Codes and Standards | Jul 22, 2022

Office developers aim for zero carbon without offsets

As companies reassess their office needs in the wake of the pandemic, a new arms race to deliver net zero carbon space without the need for offsets is taking place in London, according to a recent Bloomberg report.

Office Buildings | Jul 19, 2022

Austin adaptive reuse project transforms warehouse site into indoor-outdoor creative office building

Fifth and Tillery, an adaptive reuse project, has revitalized a post-industrial site in East Austin, Texas.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category




halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021