A large overhanging roof shelters the expansive glass walls that front the "open and inviting" Apple Sanlitun store by Foster + Partners in Beijing, China.
Located in a large open square within Sanlitun, an area of the capital city's Chaoyang District, the building replaces China's first Apple Store built adjacent to the site in 2008.

Apple Sanlitun was developed by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Apple. It is twice the size of the original store and positioned on a more prominent site within the plaza.
It was designed with a "porous building envelope" that is accessible on all four sides and distinguished by a storefront with 10-metre-high glass panels to minimise the boundary between the inside and outside.
"Apple Sanlitun is all about being open and inviting ? visually, physically and metaphorically," said Stefan Behling, head of studio at Foster + Partners. "The store is a grand place that connects the inside and the outside," he explained.

Apple Sanlitun's principal glass facade is adorned with floral motifs and connected to large stone walls that wrap around the rest of the building.
Glazed areas lined with trees were also built at the rear of the store, which were intended to reflect those in the plaza and help "dematerialise the boundary between the inside and the outside" further.
Overhanging the glazed areas is a large flat roof, designed by Foster + Partners to shelter customers from the hot summer sun a...