There is considerable progress on the construction of the future Halsted/Lincoln Park retail store at the triangular intersection of W. North Avenue, Halsted Street and N. Clybourn Avenue on Chicago’s north side, and it reveals the store won’t break out of Apple’s traditional rectangular design. The store will feature four right angles and will resemble the Scottsdale Quarter (Ariz.) store design: a stainless steel box, capped at both ends by huge glass windows for a see-through effect. Earlier this year, an IFO competition drew several innovative designs from store enthusiasts, but none resemble Apple’s final choice of architecture. The concrete foundation for the store was laid during the summer, and now structural steel columns and roof joists have been erected, outlining the final building shape. The structure sits nearly flush with the sidewalks on the north and east sides, but leaves a large open space on the south where the streets create an acute angle. On the west side, there appears to be a slightly-shorter push-out that will most likely be the back-of-house space. The building permit says the building has a basement, but it’s not visible in photos. View photos after the break.
Thanks to Brian for these recent photos of construction progress. Download (pdf) Brian’s write-up about retail in the area around the store and the construction progress.
Looking north, you can see the building will front Halsted St. on the right, and that it's entirely rectangular.
Looking east, the roof structure has been erected, indicating the height of the one-level building.
A panorama looking east, showing the steel (front) that will hold the stainless steel siding. You can also make out the "push-out" on the west side that will be the back-of-house space.
Rather than mold into the odd-shaped space formed by three streets, the Apple store will fit into the northeast corner of the lot, with open space to the west and south.
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I hear a presentation of Gensler Architects that were involve in the first Apple Store designs and they said were putting something different in each store, I think this has only applied with those high profile stores in the facade only, like the Chicago Michigan Store great apple shape window, but somethimes the stores design is kind of bland like in this case, having so many oportunities to make something splash I hope they make a great open outdoor plaza in the spaces left.
It’s been progressing quite nicely, and it’ll be nice to refer people on the North Side of Chicago to a store closer than NMA. That said, the site diagram should say CTA, not MTA. ;) [IFO - Thanks…I've corrected it.]
Apple has entered into a contract with CTA… they are donating $4 million to re-clad and renovate the station house in a style that compliments their store. They’re also doing some cool advertising down on the subway platforms. I’m really excited about this. :D