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Profile: A career by design

Apple Store's designer says every brick should communicate a message.   

January 4, 2009

Apple Store shoppers are drawn to its open, user-friendly design, said Kobe.

For Tim Kobe, store architect at-large, designing a retail store is about more than laying drywall and fitting a ceiling. If you ask him, you can't build the store until you know the story.

 

 

Kobe is the founder and president of Eight Inc., the San Francisco-based commercial architecture firm that developed the design for Apple's wildly successful retail chain, the Apple Store, known for its bright and spacious interior.

 

 

Kobesaid his firm came up with the design in an effort to portray the company's "story," i.e., its core values.

 

 

"We thought there was an opportunity to move the Apple story — which is a very compelling one — to a level of communication where you could actually start to build a stronger community of users,"Kobesaid.

 

 

According toKobe, Apple is all about three values: transparency, community and service. He said the open, spacious interior with computers, iPods and iPhones positioned neatly on tables conveys transparency. At the same time, he says, the store encourages community via its theater and lounging areas.

 

 

And the store's commitment to providing service is branded into customers' minds every time they visit the Genius Bar.

 

 

"The experience there is one that's very open, very user-friendly,"Kobesaid. "It's one where the product is the hero, not the store. It's a place where people can come in and feel comfortable using it and not be intimidated by technology. That adds a shift from what had been the traditional retail landscape of this technology in particular."

 

 

According to a Sanford C. Bernstein report, Apple stores generate sales of roughly $4000 per square foot every year.

 

 

In the beginning

 

 

Early in his childhood,Kobedeveloped an artistic side that he attributes to his mother.

 

 

"My mother was an artist,"Kobesaid. "She always encouraged me to draw."

 

 

At the same time,Kobesaid, he began a love affair with buildings and other commercial structures. He was about 12 years old when he decided he wanted to be an architect.

 

 

"At some point, somebody told me an architect is one of the major three professions where a client comes to you with a problem, but it's not a life-or-death problem," he said. "It's a positive type of thing to experience."