Ode to a glass box: the new downtown Apple store

Apple store (photo by Brian Libby)

BY BRIAN LIBBY

For the past several years, Apple's flagship Portland store has been located in the lower depths of downtown's Pioneer Place mall. Despite the refined palette of natural wood and white walls, it could sometimes feel a bit claustraphobic there with large crowds cramped into a small, windowless space.

For a new Portland flagship store, Apple initially planned a store in Northwest Portland on 23rd Avenue in the mid-2000s before abandoning the proposed development after disagreements with the city's Historic Landmarks Commission over its design.

But now, however, the juggernaut from Cupertino has a home big enough to accommodate its hordes of shoppers, as well as a far more prominent presence on the street and, more broadly, an architectural setting that befits its beautifully designed devices.

The new Apple store, located downtown at SW Yamill and Fourth (across from its old location in Pioneer Place), has a striking presence, albeit one created after an unsettling and unsustainable precursor. The company tore down an existing two-story building on this site, which had been occupied by luxury retailer Saks and was less than 15 years old. But if there has to be such waste, at least we're getting more attractive architecture in its place. The old building was new enough to have been of use for many decades more, but it was basically a banal two-story concrete box with a cornice and some storefront windows.

Apple store (photos by Brian Libby)

The design of the new Apple store, by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is very simple, and that's what makes it powerful. It's basically a big glass box, set back from the street and raised a few feet up so as to include a small concrete plaza. There is also a large roof overhang that appears to float over the glass box. The main glass-enclosed space is quite tall—it feels like a story and a half at least—giving a sense of volume inside even when the store is packed with customers and blue-shirted Apple employees. The surrounding plaza also feels like an extension of the interior space. The flooring inside and out is identical, and one’s eye almost forgets the glass is there.

In fact, as I stood inside the store on a visit last week, I was reminded of one of the guiding truths about my own love of architecture.

Much as I adore all kinds of historic styles, from the symmetry and proportion of classical architecture to the humble welcoming quality of a Craftsman bungalow, there is nothing I find more compelling than modern architecture when it has a generous amount of volume and transparency. When you're inside a pristine glass box, it feels like being inside and outside at once. It touches upon and mines the most basic human biophilic needs of what's called prospect and refuge: to see out and get a sense of the exterior even as one feels shelter and protection from the elements.

A love of volume and transparency is why I got involved five years ago with trying to save another glass box: Memorial Coliseum. I'd never in my life, whether on travels in Europe and Asia or here in the United States, ever experienced such wide-open volumes and transparency as one gets in the Coliseum, where a 12,000-seat arena stands on just four columns, and one can enjoy (on those rare occasions when the curtain is open) a 360-degree view to the outside, including the entire downtown Portland skyline.

Apple store (photos by Brian Libby )

At the Apple store, one doesn't have the same panoramic view, but the glass curtain wall is rendered so crisply and without clutter that it's easy to stand at one of the wood tables, gazing at a Mac or an iPad on display, and wonder why there is a roof but no walls. The Apple store glass brings that phrase - curtain wall - more resonantly to mind. Particularly with the roof hanging over, it feels as if the building is not a building at all but just a roof suspended from the concrete wall of the adjacent building. Even the corners of the building are just glass on glass.

Apple stores are already the most successful retail spaces in America, making over $4,500 per square foot. And anecdotally it seems like the subterranean Apple store in Pioneer Place most likely was already at that sales level. But the company has been making an effort to increase the volume of its stores to make them feel less cramped and more like an emporium for not just sales but tutorials and even hanging out. Apple is also hoping it can increase the share of iPhones and other devices sold in its stores versus online. And certainly in all these ways, the new downtown Apple store has exponentially increased the company's presence as well as elevated the experience of being in one of its stores. Standing inside the new Apple store last week, I didn't have that same urge to flee from the hordes of people and the lightless environment.

Much as its light, transparency and volume make the new Apple store a successful piece of architecture, or at least an aesthetically pleasing one, what takes away from the experience for me is knowing the store is not unique. The Portland Apple store seems nearly identical in look to the Apple store Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed for Palo Alto, and, in the years ahead, plans to unroll in several locations. BCJ, with offices in Seattle, San Francisco and Pennsylvania, has won a lot of major design awards, and they possess a rigor and an eye for detail that makes these stores so pristine. But in retail design, where the vastness of America in particular means a company has to plan for scores of stores across the map, it's inevitable that architects and clients take a cookie-cutter approach. Portland's Apple store is a beautiful piece of architecture, but it's still cookie-cutter.

Apple store (photos by Brian Libby)

That said, I'm still happy to have the new Apple store here. After all, Apple and I go way back. In the early 1980s, my dad became the first and, for many years, the only retailer of Apple computers in my hometown of McMinnville. I remember the pride of being the only kid in my elementary school class to have an Apple II-Plus. Nevermind that no useful software beyond a couple of video games had yet been invented. You could tell the company was special even then.

For most of its history, Apple has been overseen by the great business and tech genius of our time, Steve Jobs. Now that we're in a post-Jobs world, it will be interesting to see where Apple goes: whether it becomes just like any other corporation, or whether the design acumen showed in generations of computers and devices will continue. To that end, Portland's Apple store reinforces its greatness as designer, but it also reminds us that a corporation this big often finds it difficult to bring a personal touch to each of its customers and locations.

 

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Comments

[Fred Leeson]

Excellent essay, Brian. The corner of 5th and Yamhill is an interesting site in the history of Portland retail. In the late 1920s, it was home to a Piggly-Wiggly store that led to the falling out between Fred Meyer and his brother, Henry; a few years later, it was Fred Meyer's chief downtown store. Fred Meyer used to look down on it from his offices in the Pacific Building. The corner fell into lesser (and run-down) uses after Meyer left Yamhill Street, ultimately becoming part of the Pioneer Place urban renewal experience. And now...Apple.

[Ellen Shapley]

Great review, Brian. Love it, too….the transparency, the beautiful materials, the floating roof. What a knock out piece of architecture for the downtown. It would have been so out of place on NW 23rd.

Thanks Fred for the additional bit of history. Interesting to know that Fred Meyer had offices in the Pacific Building

[billb]

While it is attractive, and I love Apple products, they blew it. As you noted Brian,
they tore down a fairly new building to do this. That is NOT the Portland Way.

What a wasteful and self-centered planet-destroying act. A smarter company would have found a way to re-purpose the existing building, and if it was too big, put in some homeless facilities. Show you care for us, and not just our dollars.

Shame on you Apple, I think less of you now, and many Portlanders do too.

[David D]

If this building is "cookie cutter" I'll take cookie cutter over most "unique" buildings erected of late.
The sheer quality of material and finish is impressive--especially given its program. Even more impressive is what isn't there: a maximization of retail square footage. With its generous set back Apple has made a meaningful contribution to downtown's collection of public spaces. One could easily mistake this building for a museum were it not for the large apple dangling above the entrance. Perhaps it is emblematic of our current state of affairs a purveyor of electronic devices would afford to sell ipods in a building fit for a Picasso.

[Jeff Joslin]

It's now interesting to reflect on the NW 23rd pinch with Apple. At that time, there were two aspects that Apple felt unable to respond to. One was that they refused to integrate any kind of canopy into the 23rd Street elevation. The other was that they were unwilling to introduce any windows into the side elevations.

The issue was couched in blogs such as this as pitting modernism against preservation and/or design review. The facts were: there were no stylistic issues, just behavioral ones; and Apple had recently had bad experiences in Boston and New York historic districts and was unwilling to engage another discussion that would compromise Steve's notion of brand at that time.

Clearly, this clear and elegant composition (placing aside the ethics of tearing down a serviceable building - or more so replacing a one-story building with another one-story building on one of the most transit-served and highest-density downtown sites) would have met those simple asks and then some. And in a quirky way, we might be able to thank that earlier lost project for this one (it's possible Portland'd not gotten this flagship store were the other in place).

[Dave]

I too was also disappointed that they tore the old Saks store down. I figured they could have just torn off the ugly stone-like cladding and encased it in glass with a glass staircase leading to the 2nd floor. Then there could have been a second tenant on the other side of the building.

Having said that I'm pleasantly surprised by how well this building turned out. What really strikes me is how open the area feels now. You can actually see the other buildings. Some how it feels much more urban down there but in a good way. With it done, this is my new favorite building in Downtown, Portland.

As for the comment about cookie cutter architecture, I wouldn't worry about it. Apple has a ton of designs and is constantly refining it. They built several stores with stone walls on two sides with a glass front and glass roof. Then they moved onto this design. We might see another store or two like this but they will move on to something else. I think this design works perfectly in this location and we should be happy about that.

[Jeff Belluschi]

As my Barcelona girlfriend stated; " No wonder Apple products are so expensive". My reply, "they have the funds to give back to the cites that created their wealth". One more honorable architectural jewel to showcase Portland's history of well-deployed buildings.

[Mark Reber]

I have a slightly different perspective in two ways. First, I have endured, along with my colleagues, the extremely disruptive construction project that brought us this new store. During some of the months of construction, we had to flee to the 10th floor to avoid the noise. This is inevitable and not a criticism per se. On to the other perspective and one not mentioned here: the "Green" roof. From our patio on the third floor, we have a very interesting view of the green or eco-roof and the surrounding area. That roof connects visually to the greenery of the Pioneer Courthouse and creates a juxtaposition to that very traditional building. (Brian, contact me separately if you haven't seen that and would like to do so.)

[Philippe Sauvie]

It is rare that a new building in downtown opens up a fresh vista for its inhabitants. The only other time I felt this way was when Pioneer Place opened in 1990 and I saw the cornice of Meier & Frank in a fresh and delightful way through the atrium's glass roof. Watching the Max trains crossing paths from inside did that for me. I think it's time the Mall spruced up it's act across the street. This Apple Store is truely one of the best structures in Portland if not the NW!