SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the should-really-be-in-space-or-undersea dept.
When Apple finishes its new $5 billion headquarters in Cupertino, California, the technorati will ooh and ahh over its otherworldly architecture, patting themselves on the back for yet another example of "innovation." Countless employees, tech bloggers, and design fanatics are already lauding the "futuristic" building and its many "groundbreaking" features. But few are aware that Apple's monumental project is already outdated, mimicking a half-century of stagnant suburban corporate campuses that isolated themselves—by design—from the communities their products were supposed to impact.
In the 1940s and '50s, when American corporations first flirted with a move to the 'burbs, CEOs realized that horizontal architecture immersed in a park-like buffer lent big business a sheen of wholesome goodness. The exodus was triggered, in part, by inroads the labor movement was making among blue-collar employees in cities. At the same time, the increasing diversity of urban populations meant it was getting harder and harder to maintain an all-white workforce. One by one, major companies headed out of town for greener pastures, luring desired employees into their gilded cages with the types of office perks familiar to any Googler.
Rockstar coders don't do suburbs?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2016, @02:34PM
Apple, Google, etc aren't trying to revolutionize architecture. They would like their new buildings to make a splash and improve the morale of the employees, though. After that, the buildings have to meet a long laundry list of practical and legal requirements, and preferences of the way they want their teams to work.
These aren't tiny startups that can be nestled away in the big city. Besides, San Francisco wouldn't want them anyway.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday October 20 2016, @03:26PM
Buildings typically have to last a long time. So being conservative is probably good. Don't design something that is today's radical fashion statement, but next year is an eye sore, and then in five years an outright embarrassment.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Thursday October 20 2016, @05:24PM
I've been to a number of palaces/castles and they have definitely stood a long time. Big fan of rococo myself. Especially the "white room" at the residence in Wurzburg Germany. I would gladly hold the daily scrum meeting there. If not rococo then i'd settle for brutalist architecture. Should set an interesting tone for interviews : )
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2016, @05:38PM
One thing I like about Brutalist architecture is that you immediately know when the building was created, give or take ten years or so.
Mid-'60s.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday October 20 2016, @05:44PM
I was thinking more along the lines of a building that you might think is a good idea today, but an embarrassment tomorrow.
Imagine if someone designed a building shaped like a dildo.
Oh, wait. Nevermind. It's been done.
In London for example. No, I don't mean Big Ben as a square dildo. But St Mary Axe, aka The Gherkin.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/06/buildings-look-like-penises_n_5453695.html [huffingtonpost.com]
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/09/06/towers-with-unfortunate-likenesses/ [dezeen.com]
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday October 21 2016, @06:14AM
You also need to look at the source of that article. I recognised the general style and commentary (but not the specific author), a quick Google search indicated that "Hunter Oatman-Stanford writes about the impact of social and political histories on contemporary culture". Yep, that pretty much sums it up, a pile of pseudo-intellectual mental masturbation that other pseudo-intellectuals can cluck over. It's really not Soylent-worthy news.