Best in glass
The new entrance to Apple Pudong has been revealed.
On Sunday, Apple celebrated the completion of renovations at Apple Pudong in Shanghai by unveiling the store’s signature entrance. The glass drum of the subterranean store has been rebuilt from the plaza up, and it’s a stunning feat of glass engineering.
A few of Apple’s best stores are so widely recognized that they’ve become bigger than the brand — they’re now global landmarks. The weight of notoriety makes renovating these stores much more challenging. Their fundamental design principles can no longer change.
At Apple Fifth Avenue, Apple first rebuilt the cube with fewer glass panes. Then, culminating in 2019, the store was fully demolished and recreated by building a refined cube above a larger store at the center of a redesigned plaza. Not one piece of the original store still exists, yet the cube remains.
In Shanghai, Apple went less Ship of Theseus and chose a more conservative renovation. Below ground, the store was repaired and enhanced. Beginning in 2022, small portions of the sales area were sequentially walled off for construction as to not disrupt daily operations. A new mall entrance was added. The old Genius Bar was replaced with an Apple Pickup counter. The Briefing Room was removed, and its entrance became the new Genius Bar.
In May 2023, the glass drum entrance closed, and access was limited to the new mall entrance. Inside the scaffolding, workers disassembled the entire 13-meter-high cylinder and removed the reflecting pool that surrounded it. Construction on a replacement began. This spring, the weather-aged scaffolding finally came down.
The original glass drum was created from 12 curved, toughened and laminated glass panels reinforced by glass fin columns positioned at the seams between each panel. Likewise, the roof of the drum was composed of radial glass elements supported by glass beams. The entire structure was held together by stainless steel patch fittings and welded corner patches.
The cylinder was a remarkable accomplishment in 2010, and it remained a marvel until the day it closed. But over the past 14 years, Apple and its partners have relentlessly pushed the boundaries of glass engineering through the construction of Apple Park and so many of the most spectacular stores we’ve studied here.
The new glass drum entrance to Apple Pudong is so remarkably transparent that it looks almost surreal. The engineering has become sufficiently advanced to no longer appear a feat — it simply seems naturally effortless. It’s only with close examination that the structure’s design can be truly appreciated.
The drum is still formed from 12 curved glass panels, but they are no longer supported by glass fin columns. All of the stainless steel fittings at the seams have disappeared. The cylinder appears as one contiguous object.
In a similar fashion, the roof no longer has any visible internal supports. Encircled by a stainless steel ring, the 12 radial glass panels are subtly curved toward the apex where they join a glass disk, effectively forming a shallow, self-supporting dome.
My knowledge of structural glass is slim, but I have a feeling that this project becomes progressively more astonishing the more you know about glass engineering. It’s certainly unprecedented in Apple Store design. Even the new cube at Apple Fifth Avenue still has internal supports.
Around the glass drum, Apple has replaced the reflecting pool with a new seating area. Five curved stone planters topped with stained wood seats wrap the entrance. Each planter supports two trees, which are lit from below.
The technical sophistication of the new glass entrance makes it slightly unfortunate that below ground, the store is essentially still 14 years old. Last year’s improvements to Backstage, Apple Pickup, the Genius Bar, and store accessibility are welcome, but the store’s appearance still hearkens back to the iPod days.
For more reading on Apple Pudong, check out last year’s special edition of Tabletops, Squaring the circle. To celebrate the store’s upgrade, Apple will host a special Today at Apple session on June 20.
Soon to be demoed
Parsons Cabinets used for Apple Vision Pro demos are beginning to pop up at stores in countries where availability begins on June 28. Pictured above is Apple Nanjing East, where Apple has added two cabinets. I’ll be keeping track of which international stores receive full Demo Zones, so send me your photos if you spot anything interesting. If you live in a country where Apple Vision Pro is arriving soon, you might want to revisit my article detailing the demo experience to set your expectations.
Apple Camp update
Apple Camp, announced without dates earlier this year, officially begins on June 19. This year’s session, Create an Interactive Story of Kindness, is available in the US, Canada, UK, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Türkiye, India, and the UAE.
Featured image
Apple Eaton Centre
Photo via @giletti.
What I want to know is- how often do birds fly into all of Apple’s glass structures