Apple's 'spaceship' HQ shown off in new images

Images and drawings of Apple's proposed new headquarters have appeared online, showing off the spaceship-style Campus 2. We've collected together some of the coolest renders and diagrams, so click through the photo gallery above to ogle the proposed building.

The ambitious project is the work of the London-based architects at Foster + Partners. The building is essentially a massive loop in the centre of a large green space, like a giant Aerobie. It will cover 2.8 million square feet and stand four stories tall, with the whole thing slathered in glass.

Campus delights will include a fitness centre, an auditorium that seats 1,000 people, underground parking, a big greenhouse for growing triffids and on-site power facilities, boosting the building's green credentials.

The thought of turning those sci-fi drawings into an actual building with glass and parking spaces and council tax makes our brains hurt, but then we never did have much of a head for logistics. Still, Apple has enough cash ferreted away to make this happen (£47bn at the last count). The plan is to start building next year, and have everything finished by 2015.

Four years is a long time in tech years. Apple is top of the pile for now, but it'll be interesting to see if it still has the gadget industry sewn up by the time golden scissors meet red ribbon.

These images come from a series of PDF documents posted by the City of Cupertino, which will be responsible for approving the project. Anyone who fancies themselves as an engineer should take a look at the full documents for all the juicy details on floor plans, landscaping and the like.

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