Apple’s flagship Chicago retail store wasn’t designed to handle snow | Hacker News Reader

Apple’s flagship Chicago retail store wasn’t designed to handle snow

theverge.com

12 pointsprotomyth10 comments

Downtown Chicago is completely full of "watch for falling snow/ice" signs all winter. Not a problem unique to this building...

Yes, for example the horns that Marshall Fields/Macy's (as Chicago as you can get) collect snow inside the bell, which then creates a falling ice hazard. And they rope off the sidewalk under them. https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/...

Doesn't mean that new constructions shouldn't be built for the weather. You can't seriously suggest we shut off all public sidewalks in winter when trillion dollar corps can't even be considerate enough about public safety when designing ten million dollar storefronts.

Edit: if I lived there and was forced off the sidewalk because of this building I'd be furious. Apple's hubris knows no bounds.

The original article that this one links (1) goes into more detail. The issue isn't the existence of a roped off area and signs, which are indeed all over Chicago. The issue is that the roof's huge overhang means they have to rope off an excessive chunk of the surrounding area.

Not as big of a deal as the article makes it out to be, no. Especially since the store's located in a sort of out-of-the-way area, so the caution tape isn't really blocking traffic. But still amusing.

[1] https://www.spudart.org/blog/design-flaw-apple-flagship-stor...

> Not a problem unique to this building...

Exactly!

That said, I’m a little surprised that Apple didn’t try to go above and beyond here. Heating elements along the roof edge would more or less eliminate this issue without changing the aesthetics.

Heating elements? You underestimate the heat capacity of water, especially the phase change (i.e. "it takes significant energy to melt snow all winter long") - and how much of it falls from the sky. There is a very low-tech solution that doesn't require electricity - but then, that's a complete antithesis of Apple solutions: https://www.guttersupply.com/file_area/public/categories/Ima...

I didn’t say it would be cheap, but it would be an Apple like solution to an otherwise fairly simple problem.

Pretty much every building in downtown Chicago has these signs out front after a snow. The Verge needs to verge out of California once in a while.

I lived in various Chicago skyscrapers for about a decade, an it is both frightening and thrilling when a 100x100-foot sheet of ice comes loose and slides down the face of your building, right past your windows. I'm amazed the windows don't break more often. It was usually only one or two a season.

"Designed by Apple in California"

The most egregious thing here is the implication that downtown Chicago has uninteresting architecture!

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