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That's nice, but it also does encircle an enormous amount of usable land in an extremely high-demand real estate market and turn it into a private park accessible only to employees of the company.

The land in question used to be anonymous office buildings owned by...HP or someone like that, if I remember.

Apple has taken away precisely what from the public by replacing it with this?

The opportunity to use that land for anything better than a private park for Apple employees.

I don't think anyone here is saying this is awful. It's just not necessarily praiseworthy.

Does the Apple building have more light than skyscrappers with mostly glass walls?

The standard 12 story mid-rise buildings in DC are built with glass walls so that light doesn't get caught in outer offices.

The last few buildings I worked in had all the director-level offices in the center (glassed in), with the employee area taking up the ring around that. Plenty of daylight for everyone.