Chicago’s New Apple Store Has a Giant MacBook for a Roof

Chicago's New Apple Store Has a Giant MacBook for a Roof
Text Size
- +

Toggle Dark Mode

Apple’s new Chicago River retail outlet is coming together. But a clever detail about the Apple Store’s design was briefly revealed Thursday, seemingly with just one small addition.

For about an hour or so on Thursday afternoon, the thin, silvery roof of the Chicago area Apple Store was adorned with an Apple logo — giving the entire roof an almost unmistakable resemblance to Apple’s line of MacBook notebook computers. The logo was only in place temporarily, as crews rolled up the decal and took it away later on, according to local publication DNAInfo. You can see video of that process below.

Interestingly, the building’s original plans and renderings — drafted in 2015 — showed no indication that an Apple logo would be emblazoned on the store’s roof. However, the addition might have been a part of the plans all along, as the Chicago Tribune reported in March that an Apple logo was part of the construction plans. The roof itself, which is made from a lightweight material used in yachts, was only put up a few weeks ago. The store is estimated to cost about $27 million.

Apple is planning on moving its 679 N. Michigan Ave. store to the new location, situated on one end of the North Michigan Avenue shopping area alongside the Chicago River. The new store, designed by Foster+Partners, will be a 20,000-square-foot, two-story retail outlet made largely of glass and steel, and will replace an abandoned food court. “Our store on North Michigan Avenue has welcomed more than 23 million customers since it opened in 2003,” Apple’s Nick Leahy said in 2015. “We’re now creating something even more remarkable for Chicago.”

There’s currently no word on when the new Apple Store location will open, as the company has kept relatively quiet about it. But sources familiar with the matter have pegged a timeline around October, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Sponsored
Social Sharing