“Apple is building a new flagship retail location in Chicago, which features glass walls and a thin, carbon fiber roof,” Juli Clover reports for MacRumors.
“Photos of the store’s roof were shared today by Chicago news site DNAinfo, and as it turns out, Apple has added a white Apple logo that wasn’t in the original plans, making the top of the structure look a lot like an Apple notebook,” Clover reports. “The roof is made from a material that resembles the silver aluminum of the MacBook and MacBook Pro, with rounded edges and the same rectangular shape.”
Clover reports, “The new store, which is located near the historic Michigan Avenue Bridge alongside the Chicago River, has been designed by longtime Apple partner Foster+Partners.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Unless this is a joke, this is worrisome.
Programmatic architecture is stark evidence of a lack of imagination.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
I think that is fantastic! MDN take wrong again. Perhaps MDN are not aware of the meaning of such architecture? I mean the store isn’t a MacBook – it’s just the roof. It’s not the Shoe People!
Agree 1,000,000,000%, this 🤘🏻
Thank you! 😀
Agreed. I like it.
ain’t no way apple is building this, don’t be suckered
As one of “the trucks,” it’s hard to say it’s very forward thinking. Art/architexture should be enduring and the MacBook will be displaced before you know it. Kind of like a telecom company adopting a rotary phone icon just a few years ago.
if your iPh won’t be your phone in 10 yrs, just think what your Macbook will be. https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-10-years-your-iphone-wont-be-a-phone-anymore-1498395600
the Apple logo on the roof actually functioned as an opaque skylight during the day. At night it would then glow from the interior lighting. Instead, it appears to be a simple vinyl sticker.
MDN, where is your sense of humor? And when did the MDN staff turn into psychologists or architects?
Response: Most of MDN’s programmatic Takes® in recent years are stark evidence of a lack of imagination (and SteveJack).
There’s one of the buildings on the new spaceship campus that looks like a silver laptop, but it doesn’t have the Apple logo.
I’ve seen that sight from ground level, and it appears to be a very intriguing design, but I agree that the Apple logo on the roof looks cheesy.
McDonald’s paying to have the Golden Arches everywhere they can put it – including sponsoring major sporting events – is beyond cheesy. Apple putting their logo, on their own work, and showing us all how committed they are to Mac users should be appreciated and seen in a positive light.
The Apple logo, and for what it stands for and conveys, and wherever placed could never be cheesy.
I have seen the Apple logo sticker on cars where the Apple computer, be it desktop or laptop, cost more then the car!
“Cheesy” can come in all forms.
I did see that too. The white sticker on the window of a very, very old Toyota Corolla. It never occurred to me that it could be interpreted as cheesy. It wasn’t Apple who put the sticker there; it was the proud owner of an Apple device, who knows his priorities, and is quite happy to spend a few thousand on an Apple device, rather than getting a better car. That Corolla is still running and getting him where he needs to go, and getting the Apple device (instead of some cheapo Windows, or even worse, Chromebook) says that the owner knew exactly where the priorities lie and made the best possible choice.
Apple is one of the more conservative companies in terms of promotional material. A simple Apple logo on its storefronts and its devices – some softly backlit, others just polished into the aluminum.
What is the big deal about the Apple logo on the roof of a building that is conveniently shaped like a MacBook? Somehow the logo on the front window is fine, but the one on the roof is “cheesy”? It appears very proportional to me, not huge and in your face. And there is no indication that every Apple Store is going to eventually look like this one.
Fry’s has a store near the Johnson Space Center in Houston that looks like a bunch of space station modules hooked together. Sure it is a bit strange, but it is the only one like it and it works for the area.
I am a lot more concerned about Macs and iPhones and iCloud and iTunes and the rest of the Apple ecosystem than I am about one stupid roof with one stupid Apple logo. It never ceases to amaze me, the things that people will latch onto to gripe about…
The glowing white Apple logos are disappearing from MacBooks and the new ones don’t have the same look. So hmmmm.
Or maybe Apple really is trying to tell us it still cares about Macs (which is still gonna take some more convincing – and a high end notebook I can actually type on without wanting to throw it against a wall….
…..speaking of which, you’d think that if the touch bar – the big new interface innovation on the MBP was proving out to the real deal it would’ve appeared on the KB’s of the new iMacs, or at least the mock up of the upcoming of the iMac Pro.
What’s the pay off for ISV’s – and user muscle memory buy in if it remains isolated on a relatively low volume product (i.e., the top tier of Mac Notebooks at $1500 and up….??
I have to agree with MDN, here. No, just no. They can put the logo wherever they want, but this is just wrong.
Does the “lid” open at night to LED signage?
that’d be kinda cool.
I was thinking the same thing! It would be interesting if the roof could pivot up in the front for natural ventilation and lighting.
Admittedly the opportunities to open the sunroof might be limited in the Windy City.
Skeuomorphic architecture?
otherwise, not skeuomorphic in nature.
Right over your head.
“the Trash Cans outside are REALLY trash cans and not Mac Pros I tell you….”
lol
Can It do the high-order mathematics to compute Illinois debt to death ratio/obligations???
Might want to keep that battery plugged in…..
It’s Apple’s recycling program, where they melted down all the old MacBooks and gave them new life, as a roof, over an Apple store, in the form of a MacBook.
“With construction on the new Chicago outlet winding down, construction workers briefly put an Apple logo on the top center of the building, making it resemble an enormous MacBook Air, at least temporarily.”
My first reaction was that I like the laptop roof.
And.. the new Apple Store is right across the river from the Chicago Architecture Foundation river tour. Nice.
And.. the new Apple Store is right across the river from the Chicago Architectural Foundation river tour. Nice.
uh, your amnesia is kicking in again, you posted that only minutes ago. 🙂
This is real – when you walk over the Michigan ave bridge you can see it perfectly…
It’s awesome! Very subtitle to some, very Apple to those who know what they see…