Foster + Partners has released photos of the firm's new Apple Sanlitun retail storefront in Beijing. 

The store is located within a shopping and entertainment district in China's capital city that was originally home to Apple's first store in China back in 2008. The store was recently relocated to a new site by Foster + Partners, which has created a design meant to spark a "new dialogue with the surrounding pedestrian streets, addressing the large open square that is a social focus for the district."

Remarking on the recently completed project, Stefan Behling, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners writes via press release, “Apple Sanlitun is all about being open and inviting – visually, physically and metaphorically. The store is a grand place that connects the inside and the outside.”

The storefront's prominent site within key circulation nodes within the district prompted the architects to create a space that opens on multiple sides to those circulation paths, which include a monumental staircase. At the top of this staircase is the store's "Genius Grove," where trees and a second floor space referred to as "The Forum" offer ample leather seating so that patrons can look down over the bustling square and shopping areas below. 

Topped by a solar panel-clad roof, the building is also structured using a Special Truss Moment Frame system that is designed to "effectively resist seismic forces" while also allowing for a column-free interior. 

In addition to this special moment frame, the building's structure is augmented by tuned mass dampers that stabilize the cantilevered second floor space and by Buckling Restrained Braced Frames that bridge between the new structure and an existing basement, according to the architects.