CHICAGO | General Developments

[intrepidDesign]

I take by my earlier critique. I agree, it turned out nicely. I do think the plaza seems a little sparse. Maybe if there were trees throughout the plaza, natural shade, intermixed with tables, something a la Munich airport would really put it over the top.

[Rizzo]

Does anybody notice the parapet? The quality is like nothing I've seen in Chicago..the architects dream of creating a wall that looks like a solid piece of material. No coping, no ugly cap or flashing, no exposed membranes, just cladding up and over to hide the mechanical. This building looks great from all 6 sides. Roof, walls and subway.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by spyguy

Apple considers this a "significant store," one of only a few in the world.

Spyguy, could you elaborate or give a link to an article or press release? Is this only in a design vein? Or is it largely lip service.

[harryc]

Originally Posted by spyguy

The plaza definitely exceeded my expectations. It really does look like an oasis and I could see myself spending time here and this turning into a gathering spot, at least in non-winter months (Apple-designed food cart anyone?). I only wonder how late it will be open at night and if it will feature hovering security guards at every corner.

I just keep on thinking back to the late 70's , hard to believe this is the same stop.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Spyguy, could you elaborate or give a link to an article or press release? Is this only in a design vein? Or is it largely lip service.

He provided the links in his post the article. The quote he provided can be found by clicking on the links in his post.

[Chicago3rd]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

No doubt this looks cool, but I don't know if the Star Destroyer look is right for a Chicago subway station.

The 1980's motif they are putting in now isn't a Chicago look either. We need to hire Metra's Millineum Park Station architect.

Can't wait to go see the new Apple Plaza. Looks great in the photos above.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The Halsted elevation is also ridiculously blank and sever, despite the display case at one end.

Agreed --- this is my strongest critique. The sidewalks on Halsted are to narrow to mitigate the severity of the big blank wall. I'm not sure how it could have been incorporated with the unibody/monolithic aesthetic of the Apple Store, but some sort of treatment like what aic4ever's company built in that retail development at Rush/Walton would have helped from a pedestrian standpoint, if not an architectural purist's.

[ethereal_reality]

I used this stop often back in the day and remember its decrepit state.

Does anyone have a photo of the station back in its pre-APPLE days? (harryc perhaps)

That said, I think the plaza is perfect.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I'm not sure if I should be excited or greatly concerned that Adrian approves of the plaza.

It's very clean and well-designed, but it seems a little soulless. Built-in seating instead of those cafe tables (or in addition to them) would have been great.

Maybe I'm wrong, and this will be successful like the new street plazas in NY. But North/Clybourn doesn't present the same rich architectural and people-watching opportunities - it's not Madison Square (even if it may get its own flatiron building soon). Past experience tells me that a public space in an area like this needs to be exceptionally well-designed to attract people, and this just seems way too spartan and windswept, despite its clear beauty.

The Halsted elevation is also ridiculously blank and sever, despite the display case at one end.

The stairs down to the platform look very nice, however. I love that they kept the lettering in the tiles.

I agree, I just dont see this as being a location where people would "hang out". As nice as the plaza is, the surrounding area is all strip malls and heavy traffic. The plaza has little buffer from that. Would have been nice to intersperse some shade trees among those tables. I too am surprised they didnt build in some benches. Seems like it would be easy for those tables to grow legs.

The Red Line station amenity wise is an improvement no matter how you look at it, but for a company as architecture focused as Apple, Im still perplexed why they went with something so banal. At a minimum I would have liked to have seen the Art Moderne flourishes preserved and restored. Right now it has all the charm as the Bank Of America branch across the street.

[J_M_Tungsten]

Is the pizza place still going back into the station house?

[J_M_Tungsten]

also, I just tried going to the newcity.com website, and it no longer exist? is that a sign that its done or what?

[the urban politician]

^ Check out curbed chicago.

The residential portion is all gone (sorry Ardecila, no flatiron building). Retail will start construction in February.

All in all, good news. I think we all need to accept that highrise development is caput in Chicago for a good many years, and that making the city more interesting and liveable (retail, plazas, schools, police departments, marinas, streetscaping, etc) will have to do, at least for the most part.

Can't wait to see the Apple store in person

[the urban politician]

^ Here is the link

[BWChicago]

http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/north-clyborn.html

It's good that it's refreshed, but the detailing on the old station was clearly better. It had bricks with texture and variation, brick detailing on the window surrounds and below the cornice, granite base, the cornice had a horizontal emphasis instead of being blocky, and the divided factory windows brought the scale down. And it's maybe a little less functional now that all the doors open in the same place, onto the plaza, instead of opening on North, Clybourn, and the plaza as before.

I would guess that Apple chose to strip the station down so as not to draw attention away from the store. If you ask me, this is a good example for why rehabilitation standards should be in place. It would probably have more character had it been re-clad in all granite.

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Check out curbed chicago.

The residential portion is all gone (sorry Ardecila, no flatiron building). Retail will start construction in February.

What's worse is that Structured bought a big piece of land across from the British School and is planning to build a nasty big box-type development with a huge surface parking lot.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by spyguy

What's worse is that Structured bought a big piece of land across from the British School and is planning to build a nasty big box-type development with a huge surface parking lot.

Where exactly? I can't find anything about this, except for Structured's purchase back in 2006.

It sucks, but they've gotta pay the mortgage and taxes somehow, so they need to put the land to productive use. Auto-oriented retail is the easiest, quickest way to do that within Structured's realm of expertise.

The New City site plan still isn't that awful. The buildings still come up to the street, with a elliptical plaza in the middle, and the parking is still condensed into one big garage. It's still the same retail monoculture as the rest of North/Clybourn, but at least it will feel urban, which is lightyears better than the last 3 decades of development at that intersection.

We've already got one tower up (SoNo) so the die is already cast for high-rises at North/Clybourn. I doubt many of the vacant lots will be filled before the residential market picks up again, and when it does, some of those developers may choose to go residential, especially now that the subway station is a palace.

[pottebaum]

I just got back from checking out the new Apple Store, and even though the store itself was closed, the plaza was still buzzing with activity. Looks great! That whole area just got a LOT more desirable overnight.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by spyguy

What's worse is that Structured bought a big piece of land across from the British School and is planning to build a nasty big box-type development with a huge surface parking lot.

Can you be more specific? The only big piece of land across from the British School is the New City site

[Busy Bee]

I love love love the new Apple store and plaza! What an outstanding improvement over the old station house and of course a slick new Apple store, what a great marriage. BUT, as a designer/typographer and at my core - a critical person - I have to say that the station signage just doesn't seem right. To 98% of people I'm sure it looks great and new - all shiny - that is if they notice or care to even appreciate it. But to me the choice of Helvetica was the wrong choice here. This is a bit of a 'moment of geek' but I've whipped up a little graphic to show the subtle to many, drastic to me, differences between basing the North/Clybourn signage on the Helvetica typeface or IMO what could have been the sexier, more stylish, more historically appropriate (considering the original Futura based identification in the original station) use of Futura for the signage:



Had the choice of using the more throwback Futura to reference the original art moderne station not been accepted, I wish they would have stuck with the standard Helvetica based non-caps format for the three-dimensional sign. This IMO would have looked just as impacting, but without looking heavy and clunky like the never-designed-to-be-used-this-way Helvetica Bold in all caps which communicates a bit like an ALL CAPS Craigslist ad.


Moment of Geek over.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

^ I love you.