New Barcelona Apple Store Has Unique "Coming Soon" Billboard

[MacRumors]

The Apple Store Passeig de Gracia is opening soon in Barcelona, Spain. However, instead of the traditional black plywood walls that are generally put in front of store locations under construction, Apple has elected to be a bit more vibrant:

In a style honoring Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, Apple has made a Trencadís mosaic with a brilliant multi-colored Apple logo and a number of other fanciful designs that appear to be inspired by iOS app icons.

VilaWeb, a Catalan news site, has more:

Apple will open in a few days the new Apple Store in downtown Barcelona. Will be the second biggest one in Europe and a surprising logo has been discovered today featuring an Antoni Gaudí Style -the iconic Barcelona architect, master of the Sagrada Familia.

[...]

The new store is located on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona, near Casa Batlló and Casa Milà, two famous buildings by the architect.

iPordelante has a number of other photos from the store.

Article Link: New Barcelona Apple Store Has Unique "Coming Soon" Billboard

 

[Drunken Master]

Wow, clicking through is worth it, some awesome stuff.

And if you're wondering, the sign is in Catalan, not Spanish (Castellano).

 

[spillproof]

Wow, great work. It looks great against the building. Apple really cares about their stores and the surrounding area.

The all black walls look really ugly now.

 

[ossifer]

And if you're wondering, the sign is in Catalan, not Spanish (Castellano).

Indeed, it really is tailored for Barcelona. Any signs in Castilian are soon "corrected" via graffiti...

 

[iMikeT]

This is awesome. It would be even better if Apple did more localization in the future. How about one with palm trees and a beach for us here in California?

 

[Trauma1]

Reminds me of the orange coverings for the Amsterdam store.

 

[Ugg]

That's brilliant! It's great to see Apple pay homage to Gaudi and as Trauma1 says, the orange on the Amsterdam store was a tribute to The Netherlands. It's great that they see each store and country individually.

 

[imageWIS]

Wow, clicking through is worth it, some awesome stuff.

And if you're wondering, the sign is in Catalan, not Spanish (Castellano).

Indeed.

 

[Macman45]

Wow, clicking through is worth it, some awesome stuff.

And if you're wondering, the sign is in Catalan, not Spanish (Castellano).

That explains why I couldn't translate it! I speak Spanish, but not Catalan...Is that the norm in Barcelona? I would have thought they would use Spanish as the primary language or is it just an Apple being "Different" again..

 

[jlgolson]

That explains why I couldn't translate it! I speak Spanish, but not Catalan...Is that the norm in Barcelona? I would have thought they would use Spanish as the primary language or is it just an Apple being "Different" again..

Without getting too much into it, the Catalan are an ethnic group in northern Spain -- some support Catalan independence from Spain and there is a distinct identity different from that of the Spanish. It's not unlike the Quebeçois versus the Canadians.

They have a different language and would consider a sign by Apple in Spanish to be insulting. Apple has long had signs in its Barcelona stores in Catalan.

 

[Macman45]

Without getting too much into it, the Catalan are an ethnic group in northern Spain -- some support Catalan independence from Spain and there is a distinct identity different from that of the Spanish. It's not unlike the Quebeçois versus the Canadians.

They have a different language and would consider a sign by Apple in Spanish to be insulting. Apple has long had signs in its Barcelona stores in Catalan.

Yes, I knew about the Catalan Independence issues, thanks for the information...It looks a little like Portuguese?

 

[Drunken Master]

Yes, I knew about the Catalan Independence issues, thanks for the information...It looks a little like Portuguese?

It's kind of like a mix of Castellano, Portuguese and French.

 

[Carlanga]

The link is great

This is an actual tile mosaic, not printed!

The colors used in the whole billboard are colors of the apple apps used in iOS. For example the blue color is actually a bunch of Safari icon tiles broken and put randomly in sequence and so on

 

[tennisproha]

wow that's really cool. It's even more admiring to know that its a real mosaic, aside from the fact that they used app icon designs. neat!

But this is a temporary wall right? Anyone know how the actual apple logo and store facade will look once it opens.

 

[djrod]

Without getting too much into it, the Catalan are an ethnic group in northern Spain -- some support Catalan independence from Spain and there is a distinct identity different from that of the Spanish. It's not unlike the Quebeçois versus the Canadians.

They have a different language and would consider a sign by Apple in Spanish to be insulting. Apple has long had signs in its Barcelona stores in Catalan.

They speak both Spanish and Catalan in Barcelona, but local authorities made mandatory the use of Catalan on all store signs, using Spanish is optional but using Catalan is a must.

 

[Queso]

He vist aquest lloc durant molts mesos. El Passeig de Gràcia és el millor lloc per a un botiga a centre de Barcelona.

Estic molt emocionat

Castellano is OK in Barcelona too BTW. The staff in most of the top stores will speak it by default, as historically Catalan was the language of farmers. These days you can use either in most cases. Only hardcore Catalan nationalists get upset if you use the other llengua.

It's kind of like a mix of Castellano, Portuguese and French.

I find there's more of an Italian influence than Portuguese.

 

[Oletros]

as historically Catalan was the language of farmers.

Mmm, no, historically it was all the people language, not only farmers

 

[Queso]

Mmm, no, historically it was all the people language, not only farmers

In Barcelona's upper classes that's how it was viewed. A point I ought to have been more succinct about definitely.

 

[iPhoneApple]

Are they going to throw this away once the store opens? This looks amazing..

 

[Queso]

Video of it is posted on the La Vanguardia website too

http://videos.lavanguardia.com/inte...e-gaudi-tienda-barcelona-paseo-de-gracia.html

 

[SvP]

It's very beautiful, but i have to say i think it's a shame i can see the repitition in the pattern in the sign so well.

 

[anti-microsoft]

It's good to see Barcelona getting an Apple Store, I can't wait to see what the finished result looks like. The architecture shouldn't disappoint.

(També està bé veure que Apple reconeix i enten que a Barcelona, com a ciutat catalana, és més adequat utilitzar el català i no el castellà)

 

[atmc]

Yes, I knew about the Catalan Independence issues, thanks for the information...It looks a little like Portuguese?

Catalan has little Portuguese influence. Portuguese people can understand (and actually speak) very well Spanish (Castellano), but not Catalan.

In Spain, the language which has the most Portuguese influence is Galícian, which is spoken by people who live in Galicia. Galician is indeed very similiar to Portuguese.

I will go on vacacions to Barcelona by the end of year, so I think I will visit this Apple Store. But I would like Apple to open Apple Stores in Portugal

 

[Mike Oxard]

I wonder what they will do with the mosaic when the store opens. I seems a shame to throw it away!

 

[the8thark]

Which one looks better to you?