Skip Navigation
Alexis Madrigal

Alexis Madrigal - Alexis Madrigal is a senior editor at The Atlantic. He's the author of Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology.
More

The New York Observer calls him, "for all intents and purposes, the perfect modern reporter." Madrigal co-founded Longshot magazine, a high-speed media experiment that garnered attention from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC. While at Wired.com, he built Wired Science into one of the most popular blogs in the world. The site was nominated for best magazine blog by the MPA and best science Web site in the 2009 Webby Awards. He also co-founded Haiti ReWired, a groundbreaking community dedicated to the discussion of technology, infrastructure, and the future of Haiti.

He's spoken at Stanford, CalTech, Berkeley, SXSW, E3, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and his writing was anthologized in Best Technology Writing 2010 (Yale University Press).

Madrigal is a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley's Office for the History of Science and Technology. Born in Mexico City, he grew up in the exurbs north of Portland, Oregon, and now lives in Oakland.
« Previous Madrigal | Next Madrigal » Email Email Print Print

Did a British Spy Agency Building Inspire Apple's New Headquarters?

By Alexis Madrigal

Jun 9 2011, 12:01 PM ET Comment

Steve Jobs compared Apple's new doughnut-shaped headquarters building to "a spaceship" in his preview of the campus for the Cupertino City Council this week. But there's a more earth-bound model for the architectural vision.

The United Kingdom's version of the NSA, the Government Communications Headquarters, moved into an eerily similar glass doughnut in 2004. The 1.1 million square foot building cost 337 million pounds to build and houses 4,000 workers in Cheltenham.

UK-spy.jpg

applerender.jpg

Via John Lockwood.



Presented by

More at The Atlantic

What Happens When They Get Drones? What Happens When They Get Drones?
How 'Natural' Is Stevia? How 'Natural' Is Stevia?
Visit Afghanistan's 'Little America,' and See the Folly of For-Profit War The Folly of For-Profit War
10 Years After Its Premiere, 'The Wire' Feels Dated, and That's a Good Thing A Decade Later, 'The Wire' Feels Dated, and That's a Good Thing
Oops! Now You Can Track the Tweets Politicians Tried to Delete Now You Can Track the Tweets Politicians Tried to Delete

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Correspondents

View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Afghanistan: May 2012

Jun 1, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)