Does Soviet-era architecture inspire modern Apple Stores?

Modern Apple Stores has been redefining retail shops since its first store installment in 2001. With a dedicated focus on customer engagement and education, their open-plan layout, with products displayed on accessible tables, fosters interaction and encourages free exploration. As of recent, these stores have been compared with Soviet-era architecture, which theoretically sounds like a paradox. The Brutalist buildings from the 1960s and 70s in Moscow and Sochi are known for their raw concrete and imposing block-like forms—starkly contrasting Apple’s modern aesthetics. Yet, the common thread between Apple’s approach and Soviet Brutalism is practicality and functionality.

Apple’s incorporation of elements reminiscent of Soviet Brutalism pays homage to these innovative design principles while reinterpreting them for today’s audience. The blend of raw, practical elegance with cutting-edge modernity creates a unique architectural dialogue that bridges the gap between the past and present. This article will highlight some examples of Apple Store designs and Soviet-era structures and explore how historical design philosophies can influence and enrich contemporary architecture.

Apple Store in Bangkok & Sochi Ticket Office  

Built in 2020 and designed by Foster + Partners, Bangkok’s Apple Store features an iconic structure that is more than just a retail store and rather a social hub. At the heart of Central World, the city’s iconic urban center, the floor-to-ceiling transparent glass blurs the boundaries between the interior and the bustling exterior urban plaza. A column clad in 1,461 slats of white oak centers the 24.4-meter diameter circular layout and supports an overhanging roof.

Sochi is a popular city on the Black sea, and in the 1960s the Sochi Ticket Office was a public utility building for transportation services, focusing on functionality rather than aesthetics. Upon first glance the two centuries-apart structures may look similar, but there are stark differences. The Soviet era was known for its brutalist architecture, and the Sochi Ticket Office embodies the overpowering authoritative presence of architecture. The only obvious material in common is glass, but its combination with steel and concrete reflects a different experience than that of timber. The minimalist appeal of the structure may inspire foster + Partners’ design, but they found a way to make it more engaging for the public.

Apple Store Aventura in Miami & Sochi Bus Station 

The Apple Store Aventura in Miami and the Sochi Bus Station, built in 2019 and 1966, offer a fascinating study of architectural evolution and intent. Another of Foster + Partners’ marvelous apple designs, the Apple Store Aventura, hints at Miami’s Art Deco legacy while integrating modern technological approaches. The precast concrete vaulted roof seems to be floating over glass, thus allowing a seamless integration with the exterior garden. 

Vyacheslav Morozov’s Sochi Bus Station design embodies minimalism to showcase practicality and mass utility. Despite their different contexts and purposes—retail versus transportation—both structures employ wave-like roofs and large glass surfaces. The Apple Store’s design exudes an immersive, consumer-friendly environment, while the Sochi Bus Station stands tall and durable. This comparison illustrates how contemporary architecture can reinterpret historical design concepts to meet modern needs. Comparing Apple’s store with a more contemporary project like Toyo It’s Meiso No Mori’s crematorium can spark a similar resemblance in philosophy and bigger debate.

Apple Park in Cupertino & GSK Zapad in Moscow 

Completed in 2017 and designed by Foster + Partners, Apple Park – famously known as the Spaceship – is one great example of sustainable design. Its circular form and advanced glass panels integrate solar technology toward an eco-friendly environment. The GSK Zapad, built in the 1970s, was a hallmark of Soviet-era architecture. This multifunctional complex also featured a circular design but was constructed with concrete with a focus on the Soviet ideals of that time. 

Apple Park’s modern materials and environmental focus highlight a shift towards transparency and sustainability, whereas GSK Zapad’s utilitarian concrete construction embodies durability and practicality. This comparison illustrates how the circular design has evolved from a symbol of collective strength in Soviet architecture to a beacon of innovation and eco-consciousness in contemporary designs.

Apple Store in California & “Lakmka” Cafeteria in Sochi

Elements of transparency and minimalist design continue to resonate across different eras, and the case of Apple’s store in Berkley, California and Sochi’s Lakmka Cafeteria makes the point. While both buildings feature extensive glass facades and flat roofs with a social openness purpose, they are differing in the details of design. The Lakmka Cafeteria was striking in its divergences from the brutalist trends of the Soviet era toward modernity and openness. The contemporary Apple Store in California builds upon these principles with a more sophisticated and luxurious approach. 

These comparative examples showcase the power of details in defining architectural styles. There is a fine line between Brutalism and Minimalism and the modern apple stores showcase a perfect harmony between them. As though taking the Soviet-era structures and softening them to be more engaging and less imposing. This also raises the debate on inspiration, whether it’s imitation, copy, or pastiche which professor Lucien Steil explains in a very clear way. Imitation is a creative and inventive process that transforms an original model into something new. A copy literally reproduces something original that focuses solely on appearance. Pastiche is more of an incomplete and simplified imitation with an aim to capture stylistic elements without precision or depth, in Steil’s own words “pastiche is not so much interested in appearance as in the impression of appearance”.