In their latest collaboration with Apple, Foster + Partners envisioned the tech giant's new retail store near Macau's Sands Cotai Central resort as a luminescent “paper lantern” that reveals a “tranquil oasis” inside. According to the design team, the store can offer a sense of calm and respite at the heart of bustling Cotai, a gambling and tourist hub.
Apple's Chief Design Officer Jonathan Ive and Senior VP of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts worked alongside Foster + Partners in designing the project.
Carved out from a dense bamboo grove, the cubic building features an external public event plaza and provides pedestrian connections from surrounding buildings. The store's structural frame is supported by three corner columns wrapped in mirrored stainless steel that reflect the colors and patterns of its glass-stone facade.
The interior space shows off shimmering stone panels and towering bamboo groves that wrap around the building's perimeter as well as in the ground-level central atrium, which is capped by a large central skylight. One end of the store features a video wall measuring at 35 feet by 15 feet, with adjacent retail areas and even a casino.
Two stone staircases lead to the upper level, where display tables are arranged around the central atrium and offer a view of the bamboo grove below. The area is lit by skylight strips that bring in filtered natural light. A second internal axial entrance connects to a neighboring mall. At night, the building emits the familiar enticing glow of an Apple Store.
2 Comments
I'm a bit disappointed the design team didn't take the idea of an "urban oasis" past slapping some trees into an interior...
I am a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Architecture.
I have a project in the study to make a store for Apple
I want projections and analytical studies for Apple Store projects and a study dedicated to a part Back of house
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