Planning Board Rendering Unveils New Glass-Enclosed Apple Store for Stanford

The Palo Alto Online has unearthed plans for a new glass-enclosed retail store going in near the current Stanford mini-store at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, CA.

The store will have three floor-to-ceiling glass walls enclosing the front of the store with a visually free-floating white roof overhead. This is a similar design to the new store being built in Portland, OR, as well as a new store in Aix-en-Provence, France. What makes this store unique, however, is the interior.

Stanfordapplestore
In the middle of the store, it appears that Apple's architects have placed a stone wall that separates the store into two distinct areas. A front area enclosed by glass walls, and a rear space that will include the standard Apple Retail Store product tables and counters.

From the Palo Alto Online:

One seasoned industry observer who had viewed the early drawings called the building design exquisite. "It makes an elegant and dramatic statement. It is destined to become Apple's flagship store," he said. The structure features a tall glass cube with an overhang that extends well beyond the building. "It makes the space between the outside and the inside almost indistinguishable," the source said, adding that it will bear some similarity to New York's Apple Store Fifth Avenue, which also has a distinctive glass cube as an entrance.

The new store replaces the Rugby Ralph Lauren and Williams Sonoma Home stores that were previously in the space. IFOAppleStore notes the store, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is expected to open by the end of the year. The existing Stanford mini-store will be shuttered once the new location opens.

Popular Stories

Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...

Top Rated Comments

dziewuliz Avatar
177 months ago
Awesome, more lawsuits coming from people with vision impairments...
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Renzatic Avatar
177 months ago
I see that and think...

Bonk. Bonk. Bonk. Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scottdan1200 Avatar
177 months ago
A new Store Paradigm?

I think we may be seeing the first space designed for Apple's push into the living room. One half (the most visible) dedicated to the home experience, the other to have the typical set of product display tables.

This would allow them to separate the noise of those at the product tables from interfering with the (potential) Siri-activated Apple TV. It would also give shoppers an idea of just how beautiful the new TV is in a more familiar environment, perhaps even with couches and other furniture.

Just a thought.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
east85 Avatar
177 months ago
This is like a smack in the face to that poor old lady that ran into the apple store glass door a few weeks back! :mad:
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArtOfWarfare Avatar
177 months ago
I think we may be seeing the first space designed for Apple's push into the living room. One half (the most visible) dedicated to the home experience, the other to have the typical set of product display tables.

This would allow them to separate the noise of those at the product tables from interfering with the (potential) Siri-activated Apple TV. It would also give shoppers an idea of just how beautiful the new TV is in a more familiar environment, perhaps even with couches and other furniture.

Just a thought.
And a good though at that.

In fact, that thought was so well thought out, I think MR can do a cover story on it.

MR Forum User Speculates that Apple's New Store Design Concept for Selling Siri Based TVs



Today, forum user scottdan1200 on MacRumors had a brilliant insight.
I think we may be seeing the first space designed for Apple's push into the living room. One half (the most visible) dedicated to the home experience, the other to have the typical set of product display tables.

This would allow them to separate the noise of those at the product tables from interfering with the (potential) Siri-activated Apple TV. It would also give shoppers an idea of just how beautiful the new TV is in a more familiar environment, perhaps even with couches and other furniture.
While sounding like he really knew something, he shrugged it off at the end with:
Just a thought.
Many people have discussed the possibility of Apple releasing an "iTV" in time for the holidays this year.

Article Link: MR Forum user scottdan Speculates that Apple's New Store Design Concept for Selling Siri Based TVs (http://www.troll.me/images/jokerpool/why-so-serious-i-was-only-kidding.jpg)
I should totally get hired to start writing for MacRumors.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cvaldes Avatar
177 months ago
People forgot about earthquakes in California.
I doubt that. There's building code they need to follow.

For certain, some construction techniques have been banned in California due to earthquake hazards, but they are for things like brick masonry. Much of these regulations came about after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake which destroyed many of the older brick structures in Santa Cruz, particularly in retail stores.

Getting showered by safety glass is better than having a brick wall bury you.

Note that the most earthquake-prone country in the world -- Japan -- has not banned the use of glass.

The biggest hazard in earthquakes is fire, followed by tsunami (not applicable for Stanford/Palo Alto). Fire is what destroyed San Francisco in 1906.

Glass and metal doesn't burn. Wood framing and plywood? You bet. The use of wood shakes as roofing material has also been deprecated in this state.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)