On the left is the incredible three-story glass staircase inside the new Apple store in New York's Meatpacking District. Hundreds of people lined up in freezing weather on Friday for its opening. Shopping at an Apple Store is not like going at an ordinary tech warehouse, e.g., a Best Buy or a Frye's. For Apple, the architecture and the image are every bit as important as the product, be it an iPod or a Leopard. Their customers shop at "tech boutiques" with world-class architecture, translucent surfaces and expensive finishes. The architects behind the sleek designs? The Philadelphia firm of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson http://www.bcj.com/. But does all this attention to detail and sleekness create value for shareholders?
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Apple has cleverly created a brand image, from the design of its hardware, to the architecture of the stores, to the advertising. The stores are branded with the Apple logo, almost in the way that medieval signs were used - i.e., when you see the apple you know what the product is without reading anything. The Apple stores around the world have been designed with this in mind by the outstanding Philadelphia architecture firm of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. At left, is the entrance to the store on Fifth Avenue in New York, a glass cube - and simultaneou
sly a building, a sculpture and an advertisement. At right, is the store on Regent Street in London. The old facade has been kept, but the interior is light and modern, with translucent glass floors (see the pictures after the jump). Does this create value for shareholders? It certainly creates the image of a strong, modern company and draws attention to the product, so yes. http://www.bcj.com/
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To the left is the proposed renovation of Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium by Foster and Partners, the London firm that designed the famous, and to some infamous, "Gherkin" (the Swiss Re Building) in London. 
Below, left is a rendering of the addition to the Royal Ontario Museum that recently opened. It is a cubist face attached to the traditional body of a gallery. The design is a collaboration of Daniel Liebeskind and Bergman + Haman Architects. The exterior is aluminum and glass. I have seen this building in person and it is quite impressive, from a distance and up close, a very positive addition to the City of Toronto.
