New era: Apple unveils futuristic new store in San Francisco’s Union Square
![Interior view of the upper level at Apple's San Francisco store featuring light coloured flooring, long wooden tables with products on top, stools, large windows and a staircase with a metal and glass banister. There are multiple people in the store](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/S24eCHAEfsjNnpi8rnWEjH-415-80.jpg)
Last Saturday, the newest store by Apple opened its doors to the public – literally and symbolically. The facade's 20.5 ft by 42 ft doors slide open, erasing the boundary between the retail space and the iconic Union Square in the heart of San Francisco, where it is located. Designed by Stefan Behling of Foster + Partners together with Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive, this two-story space affirms the Silicon Valley giant’s effort to go beyond merely showcasing its products and become integrated into the urban landscape.
‘This is just a teaser,” says Stefan Behling, senior executive partner of Foster + Partners who has worked closely with Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive on the store and the tech giant’s new headquarters that will open in 2017. ‘It’s next year that the world will see what our collaboration has accomplished.’
The stainless steel landmark includes photovoltaic panels on the roof and radiant floors and a LED-illuminated fabric ceiling inside. ‘This is the next generation of Apple retail,’ says Angela Ahrendts, Apple's senior vice president of retail and online stores, citing openness and transparency as the vision of the future of Apple’s retail. ‘We will know we've done really great if it feels more like a town square,’ she adds.
The store translates the town centre metaphor into ‘The Avenue’, staffed by new creative pros with expertise in music, photography and other arts, tasked with aiding customers with Apple products and select third-party accessories.
The revolutionary Union Square outlet also dedicates nearly a quarter of its footprint to 'The Forum', dotted with whimsical leather boxes and wooden cubes around a video wall where photographers, gamers and developers will give demonstrations and instructions.
The help desk is now replaced by the ‘Genius Grove’ of actual trees in sleek round pots, each topped with leather seating. Another new feature is a boardroom set aside for small business customers.
Keeping with its announcement of offering public plazas at its prominent locations, Apple is also unveiling a communal space behind the Union Square location. It will offer free 24/7 WiFi and live music performances, while retaining the original 1973 fountain by local artist Ruth Asawa for a sense of continuity.
The two-storey space was designed by Stefan Behling of Foster + Partners together with Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive
The store translates the town centre metaphor into ‘The Avenue’, staffed by new creative pros with expertise in music, photography and other arts, tasked with aiding customers with Apple products and select third-party accessories
The help desk is now replaced by the ‘Genius Grove’ of actual trees in sleek round pots, each topped with leather seating
Pictured left: a detailed view of the staircase. Right: a view of the store’s public space which will offer free 24/7 WiFi and live music performances, while retaining the original 1973 fountain by local artist Ruth Asawa
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Apple's website
Photography: Nigel Young for Foster + Partners
ADDRESS
Apple
300 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
Watch Steve Jobs give a keynote at the 1983 International Design Conference in Aspen
The latest publication from The Steve Jobs Archive captures Apple’s co-founder giving a typically iconoclastic performance to a 1980s audience of design
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The new Beats Pill: exclusive interview with Apple’s Oliver Schusser
Oliver Schusser, an Apple Vice-President, is in town to talk Pills, thrills and heartaches. We sat down to explore the Beats portable music strategy
By Craig McLean Published
-
Apple Intelligence has landed, giving Siri the ChatGPT treatment and adding new AI-powered features and functions
Apple’s 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference marked the debut of Apple Intelligence, the company’s long-awaited riposte to Silicon Valley’s current AI obsession
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Apple Vision Pro: exclusive interview with the Apple Design Team
Apple Vision Pro – available today in the US – is a wearable spatial computer that blends the digital with the physical, heralding a whole new platform for experiencing technology
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
What’s new from Apple: iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 make their debut
Apple cuts the cord with its isolationist past by joining the USB-C party. Other enhancements and upgrades ensure the new iPhones remain the photographer’s choice
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Linn Sondek LP12-50 turntable: LoveFrom gives a minimalist classic new spin
Linn teams up with Jony Ive’s LoveFrom to craft the ultimate in vinyl revival, a limited edition of its classic Sondek LP12 turntable, marking its half-century
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Apple Design Awards 2023 celebrate the work of iOS app developers
Apple Design Awards 2023 exclusive: as Apple rewards developers for the quality of their App Store wares, we showcase three standout apps and reveal all 12 winners
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
Will Apple Vision Pro usher in a new world of spatial computing?
All eyes are on Apple’s first foray into augmented reality. Apple Vision Pro promises to bring us a new world of work and play
By Jonathan Bell Published