How Apple’s Past Design Plans Inform Future Workplace Solutions

Robin Weckesser, president and founder of a3 Workplace Strategies, a workplace consulting group based in San Jose and serving companies throughout the US and worldwide, recently chatted with GlobeSt.com and provided a behind-the-scenes look at his integral part during construction of the original headquarters at One Infinite Loop in the early 90s and how Apple’s past design plans informed future workplace solutions.

GlobeSt.com: The news about Apple Park, Apple Computer’s new Cupertino headquarters, 28-million-square-foot campus that cost an estimated $5 billion and houses about 15,000 workers, has been well-documented.  So has news about Apple’s plans to develop another 4.1 million SF in North San Jose. A largely untold story, however, is how Apple’s original headquarters in Cupertino affected not only the design of Apple Park but also laid the groundwork for many other alternative workplace plans.  Robin, what role did you play?

Robin Weckesser:  I worked at Apple from 1982–1994, which was the opening of Apple’s original headquarters, One Infinite Loop.  I had the distinct honor of managing the interior design and construction of the project—an 850,000 square-foot corporate campus in Cupertino—from 1991–1994.