Apple to Open New Store on Berkeley's 4th St Saturday; New Apple Campus Drawings

Just announced today, Apple says it will open a new store in Berkeley, on upscale Fourth Street. Berkeleyside, which was onto the story in October, reports:

"Apple will unveil its first Berkeley retail store at 1823 Fourth Street on Saturday August 20th. The grand opening, which starts at 10am, includes a free commemorative T-shirt for the first 1,000 customers."

Saturday. Better start lining up now.

On another note, is it just me, or do some of these renderings (.pdf) of scenes around Apple's proposed new campus look like they could have been created by kitschy "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade?

This one looks like God himself is just beyond the trees, waiting for Steve Jobs to get to work so He can deliver the Ten Commandments to him on two iPad tablets.

The new drawings were released over the weekend by the city of Cupertino. In June, Jobs himself pitched the design to the City Council, whose members reacted for the most part like they were being given free iPhone service for life. The centerpiece of the project is a circular headquarters that looks like a spaceship. A day after Jobs' presentation, Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong said, “there is no chance we are saying no," to the plan.

For the true Apple architectural afficionado, TechCrunch has also posted the design blueprints.