Ten Foster + Partners-designed Apple Stores
CategoriesInterior Design

Ten Foster + Partners-designed Apple Stores

With Apple opening its latest Foster + Partners-designed store in the newly renovated Battersea Power Station, our latest roundup spotlights 10 Apple Stores designed by the British architecture studio.

Apple has been working with Foster + Partners since 2014, when the technology company and architecture studio initiated its almost decade-long relationship to complete a retail location in Istanbul, Turkey.

Apple describes its first stores as looking “like nothing else”, but is now more focused on renovating and restoring buildings such as its Los Angeles store, Champs-Élysées store and Rome flagship.

“I think that the evolution of retail for Apple is really interesting – starting with very bold statement with stores that look like nothing else,” said Bill Bergeron Mirsky, a global retail design lead at Apple, at the opening of the brand’s Battersea Power Station store.

“And then over time, you move to the Apple Store being very ubiquitous. And now it’s come around to being a responsibility approach,” he continued. “As we see the rise of Apple in the world and the importance people place on the brand and the values that it represents.”

With Apple now having stores in 526 locations across the world Dezeen has selected 10 striking recent stores from its archive:


Battersea Powerstation Apple store by Foster + Partners

Battersea Power Station, UK, 2023

Apple’s most recently opened store is located within the newly renovated Battersea Power Station in London, which marks the technology company’s 40th UK store.

The store is set on the ground floor of the shopping centre within the power station’s 1930s Turbine Hall A. The interior was organised around four original brick columns and beneath steel roof supports that were left exposed.

Find out more about Battersea Powerstation Apple store ›


Oak ceiling in Mumbai apple store

Mumbai, India, 2023

India’s first flagship Apple Store contains a wooden canopy made from 450,000 hand-crafted oak elements that form 1,000 triangular ceiling tiles.

The walls of the store were made from stone sourced from Rajasthan and have a fine grain that is meant to convey the texture of Georgette fabric. It was enclosed by two eight-metre-high glass walls that allow light to flood the double-height interior.

Find out more about Mumbai Apple store ›


 Brompton Road Apple store by Foster + Partners
Photo by Nigel Young

Brompton Road, UK, 2022

An arched timber ceiling with seven-metre tall interiors defines the Brompton Road Apple store in west London. The arched timber ceiling mirrors the profile and shape of the window bays located at the facade of the building.

The studio removed a mezzanine level from the shop interiors and incorporated six Castagna stone columns, four Ficus trees and a terrazzo floor made from castor oil resin, aggregate and recycled glass.

Find out more about Brompton Road Apple store ›


Abu Dhabi Apple store by Foster + Partners
Photo by Nigel Young

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2022

Apple’s Abu Dhabi store on Al Maryah Island was built on top of a raised podium and surrounded by a stepped waterfall around all of its four sides.

The podium the building is set on is pyramid shaped and constructed from black granite stone. The store is accessed via two bridges that extend over the water feature from a waterfront promenade.

Find out more about Abu Dhabi Apple store ›


Los Angeles Apple store by Foster + Partners
Photo by Nigel Young

Los Angeles, US, 2021

In Downtown Los Angeles, Foster + Partners worked with Apple to renovate a historic 1920s, baroque revival-style movie theatre that was designed by American architect S Charles Lee in 1927.

The sensitive renovation of the formerly abandoned theatre saw the studio restore its corner clock tower, terracotta facade, exterior canopy, and grand entry hall that is complete with bronze handrails and marble columns.

Find out more about Los Angeles Apple store ›


Istanbul staircase
Photo is by Nigel Young

Istanbul, Turkey, 2021

Two large travertine walls flank the interior of Istanbul’s Bagdat Caddesi Apple store. Benefitting from a column-free interior encompasses two levels with a sunken double-height space at its rear.

The building is set back from the street and appears to be a single-storey structure as a result of its sunken lower level. The structure was topped with a large overhanging roof.

Find out more about Istanbul Apple store ›


Rome shop by Foster + Partners

Via Del Corso, Italy, 2021

Another restoration project saw Foster + Partners convert and restore a historic palazzo in Rome, which is located in the centre of the Italian city.

Palazzo Marignoli was constructed between 1873 and 1878 and served as a home for Italian politician Marquis Filippo Marignoli. Foster + Partners wanted to celebrate the building’s history by restoring and highlighting its grandeur and historic features. Hand-painted patterned ceilings and frescos were restored throughout.

Find out more about Rome Apple store ›


Apple Marina Bay Sands in Singapore by Foster + Partners floats in Marina Bay

Singapore Apple, Singapore, 2020

Noted as Apple’s “most ambitious retail project”, its Marina Bay Sands store in Singapore is a spherical glass structure that is completely surrounded by water and accessed via a 45-metre-long underwater tunnel.

The store’s interior is an open-plan space that measures 30 metres wide beneath a self-supporting glass and steel dome, which is made from 114 pieces of glass with 10 steel vertical mullions that provide structural support.

Find out more about Singapore Apple store ›


Central World by Foster + Partners
Photo by Bear and Terry

Bangkok Apple, Thailand, 2020

Named Apple Central World, this Bangkok store is organised around a timber-clad column and a large overhanging roof that was designed to resemble the canopy of a tree.

The store has a 24.4-metre diameter with a timber column that is clad in 1,461 slats of European white oak at its centre. The column fans out at ceiling level and adjoins the roof and extends past the glass perimeter of the store, forming a three-metre cantilever over the glazing.

Find out more about Bangkok Apple store ›


Aventura by Foster + Partners

Miami, US, 2019

An undulating white concrete roof, which draws on Miami’s art deco buildings, tops the Apple Aventura store that is located in Aventura Mall in the north of Miami.

The structure is a boxy, two-storey building with glass walls and indoor trees. The roof of the store is made up of seven, precast six-metre-wide white concrete arches to form a barrel-vaulted ceiling.

Find out more about Miami Apple store ›

Reference

Boyy flagship in Milan reveals layers of the store’s history
CategoriesInterior Design

Boyy flagship in Milan reveals layers of the store’s history

Danish artist Thomas Poulsen, also known as FOS, has revamped the flagship store of accessories brand Boyy in Milan, keeping time-worn surfaces left over from the site’s former fit-outs.

This marks the third time that FOS has refreshed the space on Via Bagutta since 2021, as part of the artist’s plan to create a dynamic “evolving” store.

Interior of Boyy flagship store in Milan designed by FOS
FOS has redesigned Boyy’s flagship in Milan

In its first incarnation, the Boyy flagship had funhouse-style mirrors, walls draped in faded pink fabric and cobalt-blue carpets emblazoned with everyday objects.

This colour scheme was inverted for the second iteration of the store featuring blue walls and bubblegum-pink carpet. Elements of both of these schemes now remain in the store’s third and final form, which was left purposefully unfinished.

Interior of Boyy flagship store in Milan designed by FOS
Unpanelled sections of the wall reveal the store’s past fit-outs

“This space was an experiment in formulating a shared language for how Boyy could develop as a brand,” FOS explained.

“We started by creating an installation – the first rendition – then used that experience to create a second installation, and finally built upon the combined experience to create this final permanent space that we have now arrived at.”

“We always envisioned the third rendition as the final act,” added Boyy co-founder Jesse Dorsey.

Interior of Boyy flagship store in Milan designed by FOS
Accessories are displayed inside illuminated glass vitrines

The Boyy flagship now has walls panelled with the same grey ceppo stone that clads the store’s facade.

Some areas were left without panelling, revealing the aged, fabric-lined walls left behind by a previous occupant – a 50-year-old antique shop that sold quaint Americana-style objects for the home.

Blue fabric can also be seen hanging in the rear corner, saved from FOS’s second overhaul of the space.

These swathes of time-worn fabric were enclosed inside aluminium window frames, as were some of the store’s display units.

Elsewhere, Boyy’s selection of shoes and handbags can be showcased in several illuminated glass vitrines or on the ledge that runs around the periphery of the store.

Interior of Boyy flagship store in Milan designed by FOS
The store has been finished with terrazzo flooring

FOS also created a display shelf around a crumbling structural column that sits in the middle of the floor plan.

A couple of tiered, sea-green bench seats were dotted throughout the store as decoration, complementing the flecks of greens stone that are found in the terrazzo floor.

Interior of Boyy flagship store in Milan designed by FOS
Curved benches provide seating throughout the store

Milan is home to an abundance of visually striking retail spaces.

Others include the Moschino flagship, which was designed to reference the history of ancient Italy, and the Off-White store, which is decked out with natural materials like Patagonia granite.

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