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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday October 20 2016, @02:18PM   Printer-friendly
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 But few are aware that Apple's monumental project is already outdated, mimicking a half-century of stagnant suburban corporate campuses that isolated themselves—by design—from the communities their products were supposed to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?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2016, @04:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 20 2016, @04:16PM (#416749)

    Case in point, Amazon and their Seattle/South Lake Union "campus". There are considerable complaints about the increasing cost of living driving long time residents out of the area. And the building boom removing affordable housing. There's also the problem of homelessness in Seattle. If you haven't heard about it, do some searches. Over the last 5+ years it's become a large issue and a hot topic in the area. Many parts of Seattle are hard to walk through due to the smell of urine, people sleeping on the side walks, open drug dealing, and other crime.

    Personally, I opted out of the Seattle area and am working across Lake Washington in Bellevue. The commute from my home in the suburbs (low crime, big yard, comfortable home, and more) is also much better.