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SINGAPORE – Apple’s presence in Singapore is a 40-year, shape-shifting journey celebrating architecture, retail design and the user experience in its stores.
As early as 1981, Apple was one of the first global companies in Singapore to manufacture printed circuit boards for Apple II computers around the world.
Its elegant five-story office and two-story production area stood out from conventional factory buildings at the time.
Today, Apple Marina Bay Sands (MBS) marks the tech giant’s latest investment in Singapore, following its Ang Mo Kio factory, a corporate site in the north, and two retail stores on Orchard Road and Jewel Changi Airport.
Officially unveiled on Thursday (September 10), Apple MBS is a giant geodesic dome with an oculus on the roof, inspired by the more than 1,800-year-old Pantheon in Rome, a celebration of light through innovative design.
The transparent igloo-like structure is made from 114 pieces of glass and is held together by 10 vertical stainless steel “ribs” or mullions.
The bubble, which rests on a concrete base that houses its two lower floors, is the world’s first “floating” Apple store.
It is designed by the global architecture studio Foster + Partners, which also conceptualized the Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California, in the United States, and several flagship stores around the world, such as Apple Orchard Road.
Apple’s Jewel store, which opened in July last year, has a link to MBS as both integrated shopping mall designs were originally conceived by Canadian-Israeli architect Moshe Safdie.
To counteract the glare of the tropical sun that enters the dome of the floating tent from all sides, the architects at Foster + Partners designed concentric rings or “deflectors” that get smaller as they reach the ceiling of the 30 m sphere. wide and 17m high, so it wouldn’t be too hot or bright inside.
Each deflector not only provides shade, but also bounces light to the bottom of the deflector located just above.
Its interior is a column-free space with a 360-degree view of Marina Bay and a central video wall, where events like Today At Apple, free in-store educational sessions, take center stage.
For Singapore Polytechnic graphic design student Ervin Liyu, the store certainly floats his boat.
“Apple has always been at the top of the class in all aspects of design,” says 19-year-old Liyu, who was first in line at the store opening Thursday, after queuing since 6 a.m. the morning.
“The MBS store is an architectural marvel and the idea is really brilliant,” says the big Apple fan who started scribbling Mickey Mouse shapes on his first Apple computer when he was two years old. “I started my creative journey with the Apple iMac G3 and I haven’t looked back since.”
Apple’s senior director of global retail design, Chris Braithwaite, told The Straits Times that the Apple MBS store represents Apple’s synergy with Singapore after nearly 40 years of history with the Republic.
“This simple dome idea required an extraordinary degree of experience and innovation and also close collaboration with the Urban Redevelopment Authority and other government agencies, as well as our proprietary partner Sands Corporation,” he adds.
Before the dazzle of the retail stores, Apple first moved into a rented manufacturing plant in Ang Mo Kio in 1981.
According to Terry Tay, who was then a partner in Architects Team 3, the tech giant later wanted to have its own factory in Singapore and ran a limited design competition, which the firm won.
“The design brief embodied the philosophy of the company: a factory for the people,” says Tay, 78, who is now retired. “It was truly a revolutionary design for an industrial facility that set new standards for industrial design in Singapore.”
Remember how then-Apple Far East COO John Sanders explained why the company attached importance to the work environment, where people could freely interact, work, play and communicate at all levels. This philosophy was carried into the total design of the project both externally and internally.
“We created a building that embodied unique character, with an interior atmosphere that produced a good feeling for the staff, inspiring them to achieve higher levels of productivity at work,” says Mr. Tay.
He adds that the building’s design, which was completed in 1987, was ultra-modern and innovative. It stood out from its surroundings with its precision finish, clean modular lines, and carefully detailed and meticulously executed exterior metal cladding – in short, “like a well-designed Apple product.”
According to Tay, the layout of the five-story office and two-story production area was a far cry from the standard factory building template common in Singapore during the 1970s and 1980s.
Apple’s design brief was also people-oriented, so it provided more than just a utilitarian dining room for Apple staff, he adds.
“There was a relaxation and interaction area for staff, a gym, a squash court and a roof garden, which were the first of their kind.
“The grounds were beautifully designed and the perimeter was not bounded by fences or walls. There was not even a security guard post, which were otherwise standard requirements for factory buildings,” Tay says.
According to Braithwaite, the evolution of Apple and Singapore since the 1980s has been “remarkable.” With the new MBS store, the tech giant wanted to live up to the expectations of such continued development.
“The inauguration that we have started and will continue truly represents the diverse imaginations of Singaporeans,” says Braithwaite.
“We wanted to capture that dynamic movement and the colors of the water in Marina Bay, which also signify the continuous flow of ideas and passions in Singapore.”
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