Credit: Roslan Rahman/AFP
Cube stores are old news; time for sphere stores!
Apple Store locations have become well-known for their distinctive minimalist cube shape. If you see a glass box just sort of sitting in the middle of a street somewhere, odds are good you’ve found the local Apple Store. There’s hundreds of these kooky cubes all over the world, but as iconic as they’ve become, it seems someone at Apple has grown tired of them and wants to try something new. Something… rounder?
According to The Straits Times, Apple has announced plans to open their third physical location in the tourism-centric city-state of Singapore (seems like a weird time for it considering the whole pandemic thing, but hey, whatever). However, this won’t just be another glass cube in a mall. Located near the Marina Bay Sands resort, this store will be a large, spherical dome that appears to float on the water. It won’t actually be buoyant, of course; it’ll be connected to a dock and linked to a nearby shopping mall via an underwater tunnel. During the day, the dome’s panels with reflect the Singapore skyline, while at night, it’ll glow a lovely deep blue.
Credit: ST Photo/Chong Jun Liang
“Apple Marina Bay Sands will be at the heart of creativity, a place we’ve made for you to capture your ideas and passions,” the teaser site for the location reads. “It will be a space for you to explore, connect and create something new. We can’t wait to see where your imagination takes you.”
The Marina Bay Sands location is replacing a closed nightclub called Avalon, formerly housed in an angular Crystal Pavilion. The Pavilion’s pointy edges have already been smoothed out into the future store’s dome shape. No word yet on when the location will actually open.
