Apple Park, Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, has been valued at $4.17 billion, making it one of the world's most expensive buildings. 

The building, which opened to employees in 2017 (although it was still under construction), spans approximately 260,000sqm. It cost $5 billion to construct, which is comporable to Singapore's Marina Bay Sands resort. 

Designed by Norman Foster, the building is completely bespoke and contains some unique (and highly expensive) features such as the world's largest curved windows, requiring over 3,000 sheets of glass. 

Other unique features include a wellness centre spanning 9,290 square metres, a 1,000-seat underground theatre, hectares of apple, apricot and olive orchards (chosen for their drought-resistance), and an expansive renewable energy system, including solar panels, biogas, fuel cells. A strong natural ventilation system driven by chilled water tubing also helps to reduce energy use. 

Giving back to California

Apple is required to pay $40 million per year in property tax, which goes towards the city of Cupertino. Apple also put $5.85 million into an affordable housing fund and invested $75 million to improve infrastructure in surrounding cities. 

However, critics have argued that this is not nearly enough to adress the housing crisis and infrastructure issues in San Francisco. It has also been noted that due to a tax incentive deal with the city of Cupertino, Apple has received almost $70 million in sales-tax collections over the past two decades. 

Yet it has also been argued that the building has benefitted the county in other ways, such as providing a major source of employment for the area.