Apple Campus 2
It's gorgeous to look at, but what is Apple Park like as an workspace? Reuters

While the rest of the tech world looks on in awe at Apple Park - the iPhone-maker's new $5bn headquarters - there appear to be a few employees within Apple's ranks that are less than happy with their new workplace.

After years of planning and construction, Apple recently opened the doors to its looping 'spaceship' headquarters in Cupertino, California for some of its workers. The mega-base's workforce is eventually expected to reach around 12,000.

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Yet despite how impressive the renewable energy-powered, 175-acre colossus looks on the surface, there are reports of dissent among those who have taken a peek at the HQ's design - or more specifically, the much-vaunted "free-flowing" workspaces.

Days after a Wall Street Journal report which noted that "coders and programmers are concerned that their work surroundings will be too noisy and distracting," a podcast interview has revealed that the reduced amount of closed offices compounded by the vast open spaces is a major sore point for some Apple staff.

During an episode of The Talk Show podcast, host John Gruber alluded to the discord within the ranks. The relevant quotes are below (via BGR):

"Here's the story I heard that I cannot confirm because it was third-hand. So I cannot confirm it. It could be totally false, but it sounds true to me. And I think it could be easily checked, because if it's true, people will know about this.

"But I heard that when floor plans were announced, that there was some, I don't know, whether it was a meeting or however it was announced, that Johny Srouji's team. He's in charge of Apple's silicon, the A10, the A11, all of their custom silicon. Obviously a very successful group at Apple and a large and growing one with a lot on their shoulders.

"When he was shown the floor plans, he was more or less just 'f*** that, f*** you, f*** this, this is bulls***.' And they built his team their own building off to the side on the campus. So they're not even in — not only are they not going along with the open floor plans, but Srouji's team is in their own building. And maybe internally they're saying it's for security or that's there's a logical reason for it, but my understanding is that that building was built because Srouji was like, 'f*** this, my team isn't working like this.'"

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