Apple’s incredible new spaceship campus has one massive flaw

APPLE’S futuristic ring-shaped headquarters are the fifth-most expensive building in the world, but all that money could not fix one major design flaw.

IT’S the fifth most expensive building in the world, costing Apple an astounding $A6.31 billion.

And with such a hefty price tag, you would hope Apple’s spaceship-themed campus would be flawless.

However, it turns out the company’s new ring-shaped headquarters has one massive error: Employees keep walking into the 14-metre tall curved panels of safety glass surrounding the Cupertino, California-based building.

According to documents obtained via a public-records request by MarketWatch, there have been at least two incidents of men walking into the glass, which caused injuries serious enough to warrant calls for local emergency services.

Just heard that the first day Apple Park opened, seven people injured themselves by walking straight into the glass doors. And that's just the people who reported it...as they felt physically hurt...

— Kenn Durrence (@lockedgrooves) January 20, 2018

The Verge added that after the incidents, employees placed Post-it notes on the glass walls to act as a warning, but these sticky notes were reportedly removed “because they detracted from the building’s design”.

While it might sound funny, Apple could face legal actions for workplace regulations as California law requires that “employees shall be protected against the hazard of walking through glass by barriers or by conspicuous durable markings”.

Apart from the issue, Apple’s campus has largely been considered an architectural marvel.

The circular building was designed to house 12,000 employees and while four storeys are visible above the ground, it also has a further nother three stories below it.

The foyer of the Steve Jobs Theatre in the company's new campus in Cupertino, California.

Crafted by famed architect Norman Foster, the building has immortalised a vision Apple co-founder Steve Jobs shared in one of his last interviews in 2011.

“It’s a circle, so it’s curved all the way round. This is not the cheapest way to build something,” he said.

“Every pane of glass in the main building will be curved. We have a shot at building the best office building in the world. I really do think that architecture students will come here to see it.”

Apple is yet to comment on the incidents, although it’s not the first time the company’s penchant for glass in buildings has seen it in the headlines.

In late 2011, 83-year-old Evelyn Paswall broke her nose after walking into the glass wall of an Apple store. She then sued the company and was settled without any cost to Apple, according to a legal filing in early 2013.