Kyoto’s Apple Store Blends into the Landscape

In Kyoto, the Apple Store was designed to respect the DNA of Japan’s former capital. The work of British architecture agency Fosters + Partners, the building borrows its design from Japanese tradition. The ground floor with transparent windows acts like an extension to the street and invites passersby to come in. But from the first floor, the façade becomes more mysterious. The windows, covered in a fine layer of paper, mask the inside of the shop, but still let the daylight in.

A façade inspired by paper screens

Fosters + Partners state that Kyoto’s Apple Store (which is run 100% on clean energy) pays homage to traditional Japanese paper lanterns. There is also a direct reference to the design of the celebrated Shoji screens, the translucent screens invented around the 13th century that have become one of the key symbols of Japanese architecture. Like the façade of the store, they are made from a square frame and with rice paper. Their structure enables the inside and outside to be separated.

This quest for a balance between the original design of the premises and respect for Apple’s decorative specifications (skylights, wood, white, the omnipresence of screens) is not, in fact, restricted to Japan. One of the Apple Stores in Paris, also designed by Fosters + Partners, was created to showcase the quirks of the building, a Haussmannian structure overlooking the Champs-Elysees.

More information on Kyoto’s Apple Store is available on the brand’s website.