apple's famous 'cube' store re-opens on new york's fifth avenue

apple’s famous ‘cube’ is set to re-open its doors on new york’s fifth avenue on september 20th. the landmark store has been completely re-designed in collaboration with foster + partners, and is now nearly twice the size of the original version. the site’s distinctive, luminous glass box rises above a newly designed public plaza, lined with 28 trees bordered with linear fountains. at its center stands the cube flanked by 18 mirror-glass ‘skylenses’ and 62 skylights that bring natural light into the store below. designboom attended the apple fifth avenue media preview and toured the site alongside foster + partners’ senior executive partner and head of studio, stefan behling.

image © aaron hargreaves / foster + partners (also main image)

visitors enter by descending the new mirror-polished, stainless steel spiral staircase, or by riding the dynamic circular elevator into the grand hall. the staircase features 43 cantilevered stair treads that support a floating cylinder of glass. above is a back-lit, cloud-like ceiling made from curved fabric that combines artificial and natural light to match the real-time tones of sunlight throughout the day.

image © aaron hargreaves / foster + partners

internally, ‘apple fifth avenue’ has a higher ceiling that its original version with more natural light. a new ‘forum’ is home to free, daily today at apple programming. the area dedicated to apple’s ‘geniuses’ has also doubled, allowing the team to increase service capacity. steve jobs opened the store in 2006 and personally welcomed the first customers to enter the cube. since then it has had over 57 million visitors, and it remains the only apple retail location open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

image © aaron hargreaves / foster + partners

‘our customers are at the center of everything we do, and apple fifth avenue is for them, to inspire them, and to provide the very best place to discover our newest products,’ says tim cook, apple’s CEO. ‘it’s unique among apple stores, and today it returns even more welcoming, and even more beautiful than ever. we’re so proud to be a part of this great city where so much happens every day.’

image © apple

apple recently revealed a host of new technology, including three new iPhones, at its autumn keynote event in cupertino. headlining the raft of new products are iPhone 11 pro and iPhone 11 pro max, devices that apple is calling ‘the most powerful and advanced smartphones ever’. read more about the news on designboom here.

image © apple