Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
With a feature called HomeKit that's coming in iOS 8, iPhones will be able to start controlling smart devices, such as garage door openers, lights, and security cameras. It'll all be controllable through Siri too [...]
It's only a matter of time before major tech companies begin vying to be the thread that connects appliances and devices throughout your home, and this seems to be Apple's first step in the door.
— theverge.com
Longtime partners Bohlin Cywinsky Jackson and Eckersley O'Callaghan have been brought in to revamp the 93-year-old former United States Mortgage and Trust Company building at the corner of East 74th Street and Madison Avenue, according to New York City building permits. — appleinsider.com
The compact, two-level store itself is entirely under the plaza, but is topped by a first-ever rectangular “penthouse” composed of four single panes of glass and a roof. Portions of the store are visible through the windows from the plaza level. The store’s two glass staircases are also visible through huge glass panes over the top of each stair run on the sides of the store. — ifoapplestore.com
Photo by Instagram user orbaygumus View full entry
Several readers are reporting that a snowblower has accidentally knocked into and shattered one of the large glass panels at Apple’s iconic 5th avenue Apple Store. That’s one of 15 panels, and those large slices of glass were installed a couple of years ago. — 9to5mac.com
The simple logic: Individuals who collaborate are creative. Consequently, all boundaries must disappear, including floors and walls. Private offices no longer exist, not even for top management. The open creative playground is the prevailing fundamental design of the digital economy. Those who don't already have it, have to create it. Stragglers like Microsoft, Yahoo and SAP are gutting their buildings and eliminating many offices. — spiegel.de
Read more about workplace design in the knowledge economy in Archinect's latest Aftershock feature, "Serendipity Machines" and the Future of Workplace Design. View full entry
We've updated the Archinect iPhone app with a subtle user interface refresh for iOS 7 users. We've also made a few other minor style updates and bug fixes. Left: main "highlights" screen / Right: article screen As with the previous releases of the Archinect app, we've focused on simplicity... View full entry
Apple's proposed new spaceship-shaped headquarters got a super-charged blast-off Tuesday night when the Cupertino City Council voted unanimously to approve the 2.8-million-square-foot behemoth beside Interstate 280, fulfilling a dream of co-founder Steve Jobs, hatching an iconic landmark for Silicon Valley, and promising more congestion in an already traffic-challenged region for decades to come. — mercurynews.com
The Planning Commission in Cupertino, where Apple has its current headquarters, endorsed the project this week. It now goes to the City Council, which is expected to vote on it on Oct. 15. — sfgate.com
As news spreads that Apple's new Cupertino headquarters moves closer to approval, Foster + Partners pushes forward with recruiting architects for the high-profile California project. See their current job openings here. View full entry
Like the flagship Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York, the Shanghai cylinder is made almost entirely out of huge monolithic glass slabs, with only connecting joints fashioned out of metal. The Chinese build is more complex, however, as the specifications required the glass pieces required be curved to form arcs. These panels were then joined to create a circle and ultimately a cylinder. — appleinsider.com
The design and space organization simplifies the visual experience for passersby and visitors even more than current designs. It also provides unprecedented visibility into the store from nearly 315 degrees, including from the sides as mall visitors arrive from other points in the mall. In the photo above, the underside of the overhanding roof is visible, covered with stainless steel panels. The back wall of the store is medium-gray stone framing the back-lit graphic displays. — ifoapplestore.com
The director of the Madrid heritage department, Jaime Ignacio Muñoz of the Popular Party, explained to EL PAÍS that Apple had been instructed to change the flooring of the basement so as to “symbolically” trace the outline of these newly discovered walls.
The walls themselves will then be covered up again so the floor of the new store can be placed on top. The actual original foundations of the hospital will not be visible.
— elpais.com
Sources close to the project said Foster + Partners... is helping Apple on the retail store design brief. — marketingmagazine.co.uk
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson has reached out to us about an error in the cited article at Marketing Magazine... The Regent Street and Fifth Avenue Apple Store were not designed by Eight Inc., but by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. We also continue to have a very collaborative relationship with Apple... View full entry
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple's request last week for trademarks on the minimalist design and layout of its retail outlets, the office's records show.
The description of the trademarks includes "a clear glass storefront surrounded by a paneled facade" and, within the store, an "oblong table with stools...set below video screens flush mounted on the back wall."
— reuters.com
I’m no architecture critic, but the word “iconic” keeps popping to mind. In an industry full of soulless suburban campuses, give Jeff Bezos & Co. credit for building this in the city, at least. — geekwire.com
The geeks speak on two new planned tech campuses. Which one do you prefer? View full entry
A reliable source provided us with some official blueprints for the Apple Campus 2 yesterday, and these are just a few of the images that illustrate the mammoth building currently being planned in Cupertino, Calif. A single one of these slides leaked out today, so we are putting these up now; we are resizing and still have to watermark. — 9to5mac.com
Firms credited on the drawings include Foster and Parters, ARUP, OLIN and Davis Langdon. View full entry
