- Apple Store, London
It's only right that one of the most stylish companies in the world should also have imperiously designed stores throughout the world to portray the all important Apple brand. Their boldest scheme yet has just been unveiled at the new Regent Street store in London. Paul James took a look at Apple's largest store to date and is blown away...
It's hard to describe the feeling you experience when you first enter Apple's European flagship store on London's Regent Street. More theatre (albeit a perfectly minimalist one) than store, the atmosphere crackles and buzzes like no other shop I have visited before (alright, this editor is a total Applephile). Having already implemented over 30 Apple stores in the USA and Japan, architect firm Gensler was appointed to implement Apple's 'digital lifestyle' concept and adapt it to UK requirements. Originally developed by Apple in association with Eight Inc of San Francisco, this involves hands-on access to products as well as provision of expert service. This concept was further developed by Berkeley-based BCJ into a high-profile formula that was first implemented in Soho, New York.
The store is the largest Apple Store in the world, with a larger area than its Tokyo, New York, Chicago and San Francisco Hi-Profile stores. The store consists of a 'Genius Bar,' a 44 feet long bar with LCD screens and seating for 18 people, a digital kitchen, small and large studio areas and a theatre seating 66 people. The detail design of the Regent Street store was implemented by Gensler's Studio 585 under principal Jon Tollit (formerly a director at Eva Jiricna Architects). Essentially it comprises a high-quality space that serves as a back-drop to the company's products, graphics and services.
To counterbalance the technological attributes of the products, natural materials figure prominently, including Italian sandstone and winter-growth maple as well as structural glass and bead-blasted stainless steel. The floor on ground level comprises pietra serena stone from Italy and was hand selected and laid on a controlling module with 2mm joints. American maple is used on the first floor. The key walls to the entrance, the rear wall to the cash wrap and the bulkheads are faced in glass bead blasted stainless steel panels, sourced from Japan, which have an extremely even and soft finish.
As the only Hi-Profile Apple store not to have natural light coming from the core of the building, a feature was devised to simulate daylight. The 'light ceiling' designed by the London-based partnership of US sculptor James Carpenter and UK architect Luke Lowings is intended to evoke the sensation of arriving under a daylit canopy, by using a total of 26 very large (6 by 0.76 metre) planes of hand-etched semi-reflective glass tilted planes dispersing Kemps Neon cold coloured cathode lighting. All lighting, fire safety and servicing elements for the store are integrated into the ceiling grid system.
Sylvia Bistrong of ISP Design, Inc., Miami has been Apple's lighting designer for seven years now as she was with the roll-out programme before it started construction of the first store. She worked on the prototype for two years before the programme started and has designed the lighting schemes on every Apple store in the world.
The ceiling system over the sales area is a larger version of the custom ceiling/lighting system for all of the Apple stores worldwide. This ceiling system is a custom design for Apple only.
The custom extruded troughs house the 3-lamp custom fixture with AR111 lamps and the sprinklers, H VAC, EM lighting and security components. All components have been designed to be housed into these extruded troughs so that the Neu-Mat ceiling can be a white canvas plain over the store. To create an exhibit lighting effect, the custom illuminated light boxes are located over the sales tables and used to highlight the product.
The walls in the stores have a two system lighting solution, one to backlight the graphic panels and a trough of MR16 lamps to highlight the product on the cantilever tables, as well as to provide an incandescent balance to the front of the graphic panels.
The lighting in the store is a balance of HO-T5 fluorescent lamps with the incandescent feel of the AR111 lamp. This provides a comfortable feel to the space, which keeps customers in the space.
A feature of the full height entrance space is the metal panelled ceiling, here a 35w metal halide skim from ERCO has been used. The fitting is trimless to fit in with the ceiling panel detail and all that can be seen from below is the internal reflector.
ERCO also supplied Parscoop uplighters to flood upwards from the mezzanine floor edge. Parscoop luminaires are fitted with an asymmetric reflector: this reflects the maximum light intensity distribution at less than 20¡ and therefore provides an optimum even illumination.
The lighting is just as important back-of-house, where ERCO's Lightcast directional low voltage fixture has been used in the Computer Studio and Compact 100's in corridors and toilets. Edge lit Emergency Directive Signs, also from ERCO, have been used for the emergency signage through out the building.
The staircase is hightlighted with Louis Poulsen WeeBee uplights as well as the custom ceiling. The ceiling is a glass fin system with stainless steel sides, which houses the Kemps Neon cold cathode tubes that are blue and white-6700K which can be dimmed to make the perfect blue sky to get the effect of a skylight over the staircase. This only occurs in one other store - Nagoya, Japan.
Every Apple store has a Lutron control system that is set-up with 4-scenes for the store's use.
Bistrong commented: "As the lighting designer who was part of the design concept when the retail program started we looked for designing a system that was universal for a worldwide roll out programme and a maintenance friendly program."
Most of the sources in the space are 20,000 hours rated lamps and the incandescent averages the 3000 hours to 6000 hours. Having all lamps on the system gives it even longer life.
Any retail roll out programme tries to focus on the ease of a quality lighting system to provide the proper lighting for the display of the product, this is something the Apple stores do very well.
The main circulation in the retail area is provided by the 2.7 metre wide structural glass staircase plus the 3.0 metre wide structural glass bridge crossing the store. Both were developed by BCJ in conjunction with engineer James O'Callaghan and were produced by Seele in Germany. The 2400cm wide glass treads have been manufactured and installed to minute tolerances, pushing glass technology to the limits. The glass walls and balustrade comprise low-iron glass with a hurricane-proof interlayer, with the glass treads and landing etched for modesty and fritted for safety.
The custom-designed fixtures are faced in hand-selected winter growth maple wood, with a hand rubbed oil finish. The interactive process of selling the Apple products meant that the design had to incorporate all power and telecom requirements.
The schedules were tight: from handover to date of completion took only 21 weeks. Given the global nature of the specialists involved and the need for tasks to be carried out simultaneously, excellent communication between the teams involved was required. All the teams need to be congratulated for this truly awe-inspring shopping experience. This editor for one cannot wait until further stores are rolled out in the UK in the future.
technical information
Concept Design: Apple Retail Design Group - Steve Jobs, Ron Johnson, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Eight Inc., Apple Graphics, Apple Visual Merchandising, Apple Retail Development
Design Architect : Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Fixture Design: Eight Inc Architect of Record: Gensler
Lighting Design: Sylvia Bistrong, ISP Design, Inc.
M&E Engineers: Flack & Kurtz
Contractor: Goodman Hitchens
Lighting specified: ERCO, Louis Poulsen, Kemps Neon, Hoffmeister, Modular, Alkco, Lighting Accents, Osram