Learning by doing. Arts&English for young students: Apple cube in New York

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Apple cube in New York

History of the building:

· Many stores are located inside shopping malls, but Apple has built several stand-alone "flagship" stores in high-profile locations. Flagship stores have opened in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Beijing, Bologna, Boston, Bordeaux, Brisbane, Chicago, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Glasgow, Haarlem, Hamburg, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Montreal, Munich, New York, Osaka, Paris, Perth, Portland, San Francisco,São Paulo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Strasbourg, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Turin, Zürich and Rio de Janeiro.[citation needed]

· Each store is designed to suit the needs of the location and regulatory authorities. Apple has received numerous architectural awards for its store designs, particularly its midtown Manhattan location on Fifth Avenue, whose glass cube was designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

· Several flagship stores feature glass staircases, which for multi-level stores was originally intended to attract customers to visit the upper floors, and some even feature a glass bridge. The New York Times wrote that these features were part of then-CEO Steve Jobs' extensive attention to detail. The first glass staircase received a design patent in 2002 from the US Patent and Trademark Office with Jobs' name first, followed by several others,[8][9] while the staircase design itself received a design patent, and the complex glass and hardware system received a separate technical patent.[10] Apple worked with architect Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and engineer Eckersley O'Callaghan Structural Design in designing the staircase.

· The Apple Store in Regent Street, London, was the first to open in Europe in November 2004, and is the most profitable shop in London with the highest sales per square foot, taking £60,000,000 pa, or £2,000 per square foot.[13] The Regent Street store was surpassed in size by the nearby Apple Store in Covent Garden, which was surpassed in size by the Grand Central Terminal Apple Store, New York City, in December 2011.

· On May 19th 2006, a Glass Cube entrance Apple Store was open in New York’s Fifth Avenue. The Apple Store Fifth Avenue is Apple’s most architecturally innovative store, featuring a distinctive 32-foot glass cube that creates a stunning new destination on Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s most popular shopping areas. The Apple Store Fifth Avenue open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to offer an unprecedented level of service.

Characteristics:

On September 19, there was a mob scene around a large glass cube at the corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue. Thousands of people stood in a mass, separated by rows of metal barriers. Camera crews looked on, recording the event. What might have appeared like civic unrest in another time or place was just business as usual at Apple's flagship store during the release of a new product — in this case, the iPhone 6. The scene will almost certainly repeat itself in a few months when the new Apple Watches arrive.
In 2003, when the still-aspiring property mogul Harry Macklowe finally hit the big-time with his purchase of the iconic GM Building for $1.4 billion in borrowed funds, one of his first concerns was how to fix the “problematic plaza,” as industry insiders and architects called the large and rather useless open space that extended from the front entrance to Fifth Avenue.
Macklowe had a feeling that his best bet for really transforming the property from a prestigious relic into a vibrant commercial property lay with Apple, which was on the verge of blowing up into a retail titan several years into Steve Jobs’s second stint as CEO. He pestered George Blankenship, Apple’s vice-president of real estate, until he was invited to a meeting with Jobs in November 2003.

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson:

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is a United States-based architectural practice that was founded in 1965 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania by Peter Bohlin and Richard Powell. Bohlin's firm then merged with Bernard Cywinski's Philadelphia-based architectural practice in 1979. It is recognized for its distinguished portfolio of residential, university, commercial, cultural and government projects.
In 2006, Apple opened its second store in Manhattan , and becoming not only part of the history of computing but also an architectural icon of the city of New York. In the words of founder and director of Apple Steve Jobs: " We opened our first New York store in SoHo in 2002 , and has been more successful than we had ever dreamed of , so now we are proud to present our second store in the city, located on fifth Avenue . It's amazing facilities with an excellent service in an ideal location 24 hours a day. We think the Apple Store Fifth Avenue is going to become one of the favorite destinations for New Yorkers and people around the world. "