On Tuesday 24 July, Apple previewed its new store in Milan, built in Piazza Liberty, a few steps from the Duomo and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, one of the busiest streets in the city, especially for shopping. The new Apple Store, designed by the British architect Norman Foster's studio, was built by completely renovating the square thanks to an agreement with the Municipality of Milan, and reorganizing its underground spaces used until a few years ago for the Apollo cinema halls. , which no longer exists. The opening to the public is scheduled for Thursday 26 July at 5 pm, followed by days of shows and other initiatives also organized in the square.
Apple is already present in Italy with 16 stores managed directly by the company, but the one in Milan is the first Italian “flagship store”, a term used by the company to indicate its representative stores of greater value and importance, with purposes that go beyond the simple sale of products. The construction of the shop and the rearrangement of the square took more than a year of work, with interventions that have rethought most of the spaces of a relatively small area and made entirely pedestrian.
The element that stands out most of all is a large glass parallelepiped, around which a fountain has been built, with jets of water that create a cascading effect along the windows. Under the inevitable Apple logo, there is the entrance with a staircase that with a couple of ramps leads to the real shop, underground. In front of the parallelepiped there is instead a large staircase reminiscent of that of the ancient stone amphitheaters: it offers further access to the store and was designed as a meeting point, to sit in the sun or to follow the events that will be organized by Apple in the square in collaboration with the Municipality.
Between one step and another of the amphitheater there are stained glass windows that illuminate the shop below, organized in a single large room. The appearance of the actual Apple Store resumes, on a larger scale, that of other Apple stores around the world. Inside everything is finished with great attention, but there is nothing so surprising: there are the large tables of light wood on which the company's products are displayed to try before buying, the displays with other products in sale and made by other companies. Some trees along the sides of the room take up the theme of the square, and the geometries of the open space a few meters above.
Apple trusts to involve its customers in numerous activities, from the most classic ones to learn how to better use its products, to those to organize creative events related to music, photography, cinema and more. The first events will be organized as part of the “What will you do tomorrow Milan?” Initiative, for which Apple asked artists and designers to imagine the future of the city.
