Dedicated Houston Apple Store sleuth Tracy Evans has posted a revised sketch of the glass-ceilinged retail space going up at 4012 Westheimer Rd. in the Highland Village Shopping Center, showing a number of details he’s figured out from careful study. The new sketch shows the store’s glass facade extending beyond the front of the bookending limestone-clad slabs on the east and west sides, as it does in the Upper West Side store this location is clearly modeled after. And contrary to an apparently mistaken report from another source, Evans says the Highland Village Apple Store will feature an entrance in its all-glass back wall, facing the back parking lot and Marmi and Francesca’s behind it.
The 3,100-sq.-ft. Houston store across Drexel St. from Crate and Barrel will be Apple’s first glass-ceiling structure to have glass walls and entrances at the front and back. So where will the back-of-house space go? Evans thinks it’ll be masquerading as part of the cupcake shop next door:
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The “backstage†area of the store is concealed in what appears to be the adjacent building, but is actually an extension constructed for this store, as evidenced in the photo [above; note the new construction attached to Sprinkles Cupcakes at left] by Jeff Peoples. Like an architectural magic trick, it is styled to the rather plain look of that building so as to appear separate and not affect the clean aesthetic of the glass and stone minimalism.
Evans believes Apple may also be commandeering some of the second-story space above Sprinkles as well: The upper-floor windows in that space were recently covered over, he notes.
- New Drawing of Houston Apple Store Design [Tracy Evans]
- Previously on Swamplot: Highland Village Apple Store Will Have Glass Ceiling, Front, and Back, Force Quit, Restart? Apple Scrapes New Retail Building on Site of Planned Highland Village Store, The Next Moves at Highland Village: Apple Store, Restoration Hardware, Tootsies Replacement, The New Apple Store on Westheimer: Where the New iPads Will Hit the Street in Highland Village
Sketch: Jeffrey Djayasaputra. Photos: Jeff Peoples (steel frame), Tracy Evans
I like Tracy Evans well done revised sketch, however it fails to show the 971238467814 people in line to have their merchandise repaired/returned like all of their other stores!!