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Apple's Plans for New Flagship San Francisco Store Receiving Criticism
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whoa, sounds like a self-loathing San Franciscan...
Well, I live just a few blocks north of Union Square myself, and have to disagree.
1. Yes, great. Replace one box with a logo pasted on it with a see-through box with a logo pasted on it. I won't argue with the concept of a great site, but simply wish that Apple would try to become part of San Francisco, not try to conform it.
2. Interesting logic -- the fountain isn't an "example" of Asawa's art, but a true and unique piece that blends in with surrounding, and which has become part of San Francisco. At 40 years, probably longer than you've been here, and definitely longer than Apple has been around.
3. Not true. Even out at Ocean Beach, the greenhouse effects of a closed-in glass structure can get very toasty. I personally have an office with a west-facing window, and it gets very warm in the afternoon.
4. Again, interesting logic that has nothing to do with the placement of the proposed new store.
The Apple store looks like an ugly box.
It's just a glass box. It is built simply to maximize the interior volume. Along one street is just a massive grey wall crowded right up to the side walk, not even a small green space along the wall.
This is totally un-like the glass cube in NYC that has a plaza around it. This thing crowds the sidewalk and uses as much space as the building code allows. It is an ugly commercial building with just a huge window in front.
Apple has stopped being innovative. Just four wall move out to the City's minimum set-back requirements. This should flunk any city's architectural review. If the city likes it that are simply looking at potential tax receipts and nothing more
It's just a glass box. It is built simply to maximize the interior volume. Along one street is just a massive grey wall crowded right up to the side walk, not even a small green space along the wall.
This is totally un-like the glass cube in NYC that has a plaza around it. This thing crowds the sidewalk and uses as much space as the building code allows. It is an ugly commercial building with just a huge window in front.
Apple has stopped being innovative. Just four wall move out to the City's minimum set-back requirements. This should flunk any city's architectural review. If the city likes it that are simply looking at potential tax receipts and nothing more
I actually visited that store a week ago, when it was my first time in San Francisco. It was the only Apple Store I've left with a bad aftertaste.
Usually they're very pleasant and filled with friendly people, and this was no exception at first. I was walking around and playing with devices for around 5 mins each. After chilling around 20 mins in the store, which wasn't even all that busy in the middle of a Monday, a girl comes up and asks if I need any help, but finishes with "but please keep in mind we do have a 15 minute limit per device." Then she proceeds to tell the exact same phrase to the guy standing next to me. He was only there for a few minutes.
Anyway, it's not like I was planning to be there much longer anyway, so I didn't even exceed this limit, but just being told that made me feel very unwelcome. :/ And the only reason I wasn't buying anything is because I already have all the Apple devices I need, so I just need to wait for them to release new ones.
Usually they're very pleasant and filled with friendly people, and this was no exception at first. I was walking around and playing with devices for around 5 mins each. After chilling around 20 mins in the store, which wasn't even all that busy in the middle of a Monday, a girl comes up and asks if I need any help, but finishes with "but please keep in mind we do have a 15 minute limit per device." Then she proceeds to tell the exact same phrase to the guy standing next to me. He was only there for a few minutes.
Anyway, it's not like I was planning to be there much longer anyway, so I didn't even exceed this limit, but just being told that made me feel very unwelcome. :/ And the only reason I wasn't buying anything is because I already have all the Apple devices I need, so I just need to wait for them to release new ones.
<sarcasm>
Tim will need to answer for this on All Things D tonight. Such arrogance: paying for property, hiring architects and approving a design that has the praise of the Mayor and suits the needs and desires of the company that will be operating there. Apparently Apple has absolutely no experience in this regard. And the fact that they failed to consult someone lacking architectural background with plenty of opinions is unconscionable.
</sarcasm>
On the other hand, that plain wall is a bit boring. FWIW, I'll just be happy it doesn't leak.
Tim will need to answer for this on All Things D tonight. Such arrogance: paying for property, hiring architects and approving a design that has the praise of the Mayor and suits the needs and desires of the company that will be operating there. Apparently Apple has absolutely no experience in this regard. And the fact that they failed to consult someone lacking architectural background with plenty of opinions is unconscionable.
</sarcasm>
On the other hand, that plain wall is a bit boring. FWIW, I'll just be happy it doesn't leak.
Because the construction firms build, they don't modify designs.
Roofing 101:
Flat roofs will leak, it's just a matter of when.
Roofs that have reverse pitch into walls, will eventually leak into the wall.
Now that being said if the roof is flat, you can make the roof taller and hide the incline on the roof to allow it to drain correctly. Some architects don't do this.
Also Frank Lloyd Wright intentionally inverted the angle of the roof for visual impact and you just have to live with the leaks and be prepared to do what you can when they occur.
Once again. Architects draw pretty pictures and engineers tell them to go back and change them.
Yes. He likes the money. This store is obviously designed to simply take up s=as much space as possible on the lot. Nothing more. Again Aple is just going cheap.
Yes Apple can do better. Look at the Space Ship headquarters design.
My idea for the same space:
1) build half the store under ground
2) Build the other half on the second floor, use glass.
3) connect the 2nd floor and underground parts with a big column that has a circular stairway and elevator and is mostly glass. Build a solid back and side wall to hide existing adjacent structures ad to provide support and shear wall for 2nd floor. No first floor walls on sidewalks at street level
4) make the first floor into a public outdoor plaza with stone paving, benches and maybe a koi pond. People will cut the corner as the walk through the open space. This would be a landmark design and a popular meeting place.
But my idea COSTS more than a plain box. Apple has gone cheap. They will go for the box.
With proper commentary from Apple PR people, this will transfer to the real locus of issue-dom, San Francisco.
Basically, it's a political argument about whether an old fountain should stick around because it is either "old, ugly" or "old, historic". Press is using "Apple" to make it bigger, because Apple is newsworthy.
Thing looks too bright for me. Doesn't matter, I'll never go there.
You are correct but it does not matter. This building is meant to be torn down in 20 years or less. It is just a four wall box set up to sell iPhones. When the iphone fad is over they will raze this put a McDonald's Burger store on the site.
Apple is in a bubble right now and they know it, hence the cheap store.
People may not like the fountain but that isn't the point. The point is the fountain has been in that location for 40 years. It is a work of art in it's own right like it or not. I addition to that is a unique piece that should be protected. Apple should have worked that landmark into their design instead of axing it completely. Being sensitive to history and your surroundings is pretty important and I'm shocked that Apple didn't take that into account when approving this design.[/QUOTE]
This is an example of the tyranny of the old. Just because a feature that someone labels as "art" survived for 40 years does not make a good argument for continuing to be limited by its location in the future. By your logic Apple should leave up the Levi's facade because it has "been there" for years.
The Levi's facade is not the facade of the "opera" store across from the Paris Opera House, and the fountain is not Rome's Trevi fountain. Neither San Francisco structure is worth preserving for the enlightenment and pleasure of future generations.
http://cdn.redmondpie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/AppleOperaStore8.jpg
I'm a self-aggrandizing San Franciscan thank you very much.
1 - What does that mean? How is putting a store in a very commercial, mainstream shopping district somehow 'conforming' San Francisco? There's no unique flavor to Union Square save the grifters, it's just a big outdoor mall.
2 - As for Asawa's fountain - If anybody cared about this thing should be up in arms about the 80s business-park stairs that flank it. It's an unloved nook.
3 - The store will face south. There will be no such problem.
So you're thinking one bad piece of architecture excuses another?
Genius...
Have you ever been to San Francisco and seen this building in person?
"..been in place for 40 years."
I love when Americans try to be sentimental about things. Bless.
Anyway, I'm sure the planners and Architects will talk together over this small dispute, Apple has been known to incorporate the local surroundings /very/ well with their designs in the past, I doubt they'd stop here.
I love when Americans try to be sentimental about things. Bless.
Anyway, I'm sure the planners and Architects will talk together over this small dispute, Apple has been known to incorporate the local surroundings /very/ well with their designs in the past, I doubt they'd stop here.
are you familiar with san francisco? have you ever been there in the summer? it is freezing cold and the sun peeks out for about 20 minutes a day. if anything, this will reduce their heating bill in july and august.
San Francisco has been suffering from "tyranny of the old" for a long time. That is why it is such a beautiful city. We preserve our architectural and artistic heritage.
The Silicon Valley doesn't suffer from "tyranny of the old." That is why it is so ugly and there is "no there, there." (And also why Google buses run Google employees back and forth between Mountain View and SF. Many Google employees want to live where the old tyrannizes the new.)
broad invinting steps?
Everytime I've walked past that Levis store I specifically did not go into the store BECAUSE of all the steps. It's just too far out of your way to go.
Everytime I've walked past that Levis store I specifically did not go into the store BECAUSE of all the steps. It's just too far out of your way to go.
Public art isn't meant to be forever, as the public's tastes and likes change with the times. While I don't find Apple's design for this store to be breathtaking or anything, its still a nice, modern addition. I would hope that the fountain could be relocated to another area... but if it can't, well, then, the times changed beyond it. Those with pictures will have lasting memories of it long after its (insert death of fountain method here).