Foster + Partners designs Apple Bağdat Caddesi - Istanbul’s Apple store

In Istanbul, the new "Apple Bağdat Caddesi" store opened its doors to shoppers on October 22. The new store is located in the lively Bağdat Caddesi, one of the most international and popular shopping areas and destinations in the Turkish city. The project – the result of the close collaboration between the Foster + Partners architecture studio together with the Apple design team – reflects the concept design that characterises all other Apple stores built in different parts of the world.
The store was built in a standalone building set back from the busy Bağdat Caddesi street. As already done for the Apple Sanlitun in Beijing or the Apple Central World in Bangkok, the architects were thus able to design outdoor spaces with a strong public vocation. In particular, a tree-lined square has been created that celebrates urban life, offering opportunities for meeting and sharing.

The building has a regular geometric shape, a simple volume that fits well into the local context and responds to Istanbul’s climatic and environmental needs. It appears as a simple single-story volume at the main street level, with a large floating roof above it. Internally, the architects emptied the volume, freeing the central space from vertical supports and arranging the structure only along the perimeter walls. The result is a transparent volume that creates an immediate visual connection with the public space outside. To maximise this effect, the architects used the same stonework found in the sidewalk to build steps and slopes that gently accompany visitors towards the store’s entrance.

The full-height windows, which close the short sides of the volume, draw the observers’ gaze towards the volume of the building, to arrive at the luxuriant tree-lined garden located at the back. In fact, looking through the transparent window on the building’s main front, the large green foliage of the garden can be seen, attracting visitors’ attention and inviting them to enter the architecture. The store entrance is located on upper level, where the exhibition area is found. The second level, on the other hand, is perfectly hidden from the street view. The large flight of stairs that crosses the double-height volume provides access to the garden level. The green spaces are distributed on the three sides of the building and a tall hedge surrounds the tree-lined area. As Stefan Behling lead architect at Foster + Partners, explains, the intent was to create a natural environment where it would be possible to relax and offer a new public space for the local community, which could become a popular destination for both tourists and citizens. A space, of course, built respecting the concepts of sustainability, with the green roof that improves the insulation and thermal comfort of the building, as well as concealing a system used to recover rainwater for irrigation.
The choice of warm natural materials for the interiors of the store, highlighted by the natural lighting the enters the store though the large skylights and the floor-to-ceiling windows, is consistent with the concept of making the Apple store a green oasis and an island of rest and relaxation in the lively and hectic everyday life of Istanbul and, in particular, of this bustling part of the city.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Images courtesy of Apple

Project Name: Apple Bağdat Caddesi
Architects: Foster + Partners with Apple Design Team
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

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