A paternalistic sense of “family” pervaded the carefully designed “home” for employees. As architect Gordon Bunshaft noted “the head man was personally involved and personally building himself a palace for his people that would not only represent his company, but his personal pleasure”. This translated to office design that typically situated women in open plan floors, with the top floors reserved for male managers’ private offices.

The 21st Century campus

By the 1990s, the possibilities of working from home (or anywhere), outsourcing and offshoring challenged the need for a campus. Committing to so much space represented a liability for businesses in an increasingly digital, economically uncertain environment.

Changing political landscapes also presented challenges. For example, in 2014 RBS bank and Lloyds considered moving to England at a cost of £1bn ($1.34bn) to each company to manage the “irreversible risk” created by Scotland’s independence plebiscite.

Natural disasters and terrorism also raise questions about centralising an organisation in a single location. Given these risks, why would Apple build a $5bn campus?