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Apple built a secret underground room into its new theater

Apple built a secret underground room into its new theater

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It’s an exhibit lair

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Last week, we got a peek at the interior of Apple Park’s Steve Jobs Theater, albeit one covered in plastic and under construction. Now, Bloomberg’s resident Apple reporter says he has more details about exactly how things will work under the structure’s giant silver roof.

The previous photos, coupled with two blueprints tweeted by Neil Cybart, gave a general understanding of how the flow would work. The images showed a lobby area that extends a story below ground, accessible via two staircases hugging the sides as well as two elevators.

The exhibit space is located in a circular area in the middle of the lobby. Up until now, it hasn't been clear how Apple would use it as a demo area for new products if visitors walked right past it on the way in, but Bloomberg's source says they have the answer: it's hidden.

Once CEO Tim Cook and his cohorts finish showing off the new iPhones, Apple Watch, and [Apple] TV onstage, a surprise will await the departing attendees. An inside wall, which obscures a hollow space below the floating saucer, will retract to reveal the product demonstration room, according to someone with knowledge of the design. For fellow Brits: think the Thunderbird 3 launchpad underneath Tracy Island's circular pool house.

Neil Cybart also surmised in a follow-up tweet about the space that the entire dotted line surrounding the exhibit area on the blueprint is a movable, circular wall.

There are also some other design notes that help clarify what’s seen in the blueprints, namely with those double elevators:

It also boasts two custom-made rotating elevators, which turn as they ascend and descend so that passengers enter and exit by the same door even as they go in and out from different directions. So far, so Apple — the more elegant single door, with its complex engineering, preferred to the more obvious double-door solution.

The public will get its first peek at the theater at Apple’s iPhone 8 event on September 12th. And, those in attendance will get the additional wow factor of experiencing Apple’s demo lair — a secret room with a giant, retractable wall.