Apple Store, Fifth Avenue
Bohlin, Cywinski, Jackson (Firm)
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Date
2006Description
Side elevation looking through the cube at customers on stairs and in store below; Apple has built several stand-alone "flagship" stores in high-profile locations. 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 Apple Stores feature glass staircases, including the Fifth Avenue spiral glass staircase. 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 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with Jobs' name first, followed by several others, while the staircase design itself received a design patent, and the complex glass and hardware system received a separate technical patent. Apple worked with architects Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and engineer Eckersley O'Callaghan Structural Design in designing the staircase. The store occupies the underground retail concourse of the General Motors Building, with the 32 ft. glass cube entry from the plaza level above. By day this functions as a skylight, at night the lighted cube is a sign. Source: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson [firm website]; http://www.bcj.com/ (accessed 7/11/2012)
Type of Work
storeSubject
advertising and industrial design, architecture, business, commerce and trade, contemporary (1960 to present), retail electronics, marketing, Twenty-first century
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only