Only a few weeks after the opening of Abu Dhabi‘s very first Apple store at Yas Mall, a second outpost has opened its doors in the heart of the city’s business district at the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The standalone store, once again designed by acclaimed architecture practice and longtime collaborator Foster + Partners, actually sits right below the aforementioned building in a voluminous glass-encased pavilion atop a tiered pyramid of black granite and surrounded on four sides cascading water. The location is evocative, but also quite strategic, being right next to The Galleria, another upscale shopping centre, and comes with ample flows of foot traffic. Two external entrance ramps cut through the water and rise to the store, creating a new link between a wide pedestrian zone, store and shopping centre.
The same granite continues seamlessly inside the store, drawing life from the promenade into the store, while on the other side shoppers enter the premises from the shopping centre through a mirrored stainless-steel portal, enveloped by the sights and sounds of the water jets that cascade down over the exterior glass walls. A 72-foot-long (22-metre) jointless stretched mirror foil ceiling adds drama to the space – a single uninterrupted plane that creates a kaleidoscopic effect, with the water falling down the walls, and reflections travelling infinitely up towards the sky. The interior design sees a stretched gold fabric ceiling with lighting incorporated into the avenues to illuminate the metallic ceiling at night, filtering through the leaves of the Ficus trees that dot the premises and casting theatrical shadows on the surface above. The new Apple store carries the brand’s full range of products and offers all of its services.
Apple
The Galleria, 107 Hamouda Bin Ali Al Dhaheri Street, Level 1 (Al Maryah Island)
Abu Dhabi
Telephone: +971 2 4937400
Mon-Thu 10am-10pmm
Fri-Sat 10am-12am
Sun 10am-10pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
