Becoming Apple Fifth Ave

After reading The Politics of the Envelope, I started to think about a video I recently watched on the development of the flagship Apple store on Fifth Ave in Manhattan.  For those who don't know it is the iconic glass cube store.  What I found interesting was to see the transformation of before the store was built and after.  Basically this real estate developer had acquired the GM building, in background, and wanted to find a way to develop the site in front, which was too small for another building but too large to be a public plaza.  When the GM building was constructed the plaza was sunken and used as public space, more on that later, when that wasn't successful it was filled in to make a street level plaza, but the scale and emptiness didn't attract people.  Determined to make this a shopping center, the real estate developer reached out to Apple to build a new store.

The store is a pretty minimalist design, a glass cube sitting on the plaza with public space surrounding.  A glass stair descends under the plaza revealing a ultra-modern interior.  My first visit to New York involved a visit to that store.  Over the last year or two the store has underwent a renovation by Norman Foster which has brought new life to the plaza and interior of the store.

 Pre-Reno

  Post (Norman Fosterized)

The new design features portholes that bring light into the space below and double as seating above.  Down below trees and succulents are planted, harkening back to the sunken plaza before? 

Now getting to the politics of the envelope.  Comparing the GM building to Apple Store materiality plays a big factor into who belongs in each building.  The corporate nature of the GM building discourages loitering as if to say, "if you are not here to spend money...leave."  The Apple Store is different, while yes it is a retail store nonetheless I have never been thrown out of an Apple Store if I wasn't there to spend money.  The plaza on the street level invites people to lounge and gather, while the space below features more than enough gadgets to play with.  If the intention of the store was only to sell they would really need less than half the amount of demo models, think of BestBuy for example.  On top of that there are spaces to charge your phone for free and take classes.  The glass cube provides transparency and invites people in, while the store is filled with light and the atmosphere contains an energy of joy.  After seeing the success of the Apple Store one can see why the plaza before the store failed to attract people.  The omnipresent GM building towered over it, being sunken below the street added to this effect.  The space also didn't look inviting to people who didn't do business in the building, a common theme we are starting to see in Privately Owned Public Open Space (POPOS).