Foster + Partners has designed its "most ambitious" Apple Store for Chicago, with huge glass walls and a slender roof that looks like a scaled-up version of the company's laptop computer.
The Apple Michigan Avenue store is located on the city's river edge beside the North Michigan Avenue ? also known as the Magnificent Mile ? and in front of the higher-level Pioneer Court, a public plaza.
London firm Foster + Partners placed a pair of granite staircases either side of the store to create a new pathway from the plaza to the river esplanade, while the huge glass walls rise 32 feet (approximately 10 metres) to maintain views from this public space and the water.

The carbon-fibre roof atop is designed to be as slim as possible and supported by four internal pillars to keep the glass walls free. "Apple Michigan Avenue is about removing boundaries between inside and outside, reviving important urban connections within the city," said Apple's chief designer Jonathan Ive.
"It unites a historic city plaza that had been cut off from the water, giving Chicago a dynamic new arena that flows effortlessly down to the river."

When seen from above, the silvery roof measuring 111 by 98 feet (33.8 by 29.8 metres) resembles an Apple Macbook laptop.
Foster + Partners designed Apple Michigan Avenue to replace the company's first flagship, which was built on North Michigan Avenue in 2003.
Billed as its "most ambitious" yet, the new store will als...