According to a newspaper report out today, Apple has big plans for its upcoming retail outlet tot be located right in the neighborhood of the company’s existing Stanford store in Palo Alto, California.
It’s gonna feature exquisitely designed interior with a stone wall separating the store into two distinct areas, coupled with Apple’s trademark floor-to-ceiling glass walls on the outside and light-colored roof overhead…
MacRumors points to The Palo Alto Online article citing “seasoned industry observer” who saw the early drawings.
The store design, credited to Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is being described as “exquisite”:
It makes an elegant and dramatic statement. It is destined to become Apple’s flagship store,” he said. The structure features a tall glass cube with an overhang that extends well beyond the building. “It makes the space between the outside and the inside almost indistinguishable,” the source said, adding that it will bear some similarity to New York’s Apple Store Fifth Avenue, which also has a distinctive glass cube as an entrance.
ifoAppleStore provides the following description:
The front space consists of tall and wide glass panels creating an enclosed area that sits in front of the existing retail building, and occupying part of what is now a public plaza. At the rear of this space is a stone wall with product display counters and back-lit graphics. At the left and right end of the rear wall are openings that lead to the larger, rear retail space.
It’s gonna be a behemoth of a building, covering 12,100 square feet and standing nearly 23 feet tall in a single story.
As for its glass exterior, the store is said to feature an all-glass appearance, with three floor-to-ceiling glass walls augmented by white roof.
The outlet will be located near the current Stanford mini-store and will replace two vacant storefronts, the former Rugby Ralph Lauren and Williams Sonoma Home stores.
Apple is also building a second 16,600 square feet, two-story Palo Alto store to replace the current downtown shop at 340 University Ave. It’s also gonna have a glass facade and roof and should be completed several months ahead of the one at Stanford.
The existing Stanford mini-store at the mall will close when the new Stanford outlet opens for business in mid-November, in time for the lucrative holiday shopping season.
Looks quite dramatic, doesn’t it?