This weekend, Singapore welcomed its first Apple store in a beautiful glass-fronted building that blends minimalist design with nature. Designed by Foster + Partners and Apple, this long-awaited flagship store—called Apple Orchard Road—takes cues from Singapore’s lush environment and features mature trees inside and outside the shop. Home to the world’s largest Genius Grove, Apple Orchard Road is considered one of Foster + Partners’ “greenest Apple spaces yet” and is entirely powered by renewable energy.
Welcomed with extreme fanfare and a ten-hour-long, 2,000-person queue, Apple Orchard Road is the first official Apple Store in Southeast Asia. The two-story building is located in the heart of the Singapore, known as the garden city, along tree-lined Orchard Road. Inspired by the city’s garden themes, the designers crafted the building with a strong focus on community and connection to nature.
Eight mature trees were planted in front of the store to create a shaded “green orchard” that serves as a new public gathering space. The 120-foot wide glazed storefront blurs the boundaries between inside and outside, an illusion strengthened by the installation of mature trees within the shop. A thin, white canopy cantilevers out 25 feet to provide solar shading.
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“This is one of our greenest Apple spaces yet – not only does all the energy come from renewable sources, but it is filled with lush trees,” said Stefan Behling, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners. “It also breaks down the boundaries between the inside and outside, with the greenery cascading through the store from the mezzanine to the ground floor and out to onto Orchard Road, creating the most welcoming civic gesture.”
Beautiful curved staircases hand-carved from Castagna stone by Italian artisans frame the interior. The world’s largest Genius Grove on the mezzanine contains twelve Ficus Ali trees. The Forum, which serves as a gathering place for Creative Pros, also boasts Apple’s widest video screen in the world.
Images © Nigel Young and Apple
