Column: Apple's new flagship store an understated gem on the Chicago River
CHICAGO - Chicago's new Apple store is thrillingly transparent, elegantly understated and a boon to the city's riverfront.
With its huge sheets of laminated glass and an ultra-thin roof of lightweight carbon fiber the store, opening Friday, is simultaneously present and absent, there and not there. From North Michigan Avenue, you look through its glassy membrane and see the river's blue-green waters and passing tour boats. A plaza of tiered granite steps spills down to the riverfront.
And because there's no Apple logo on the roof - a kitschy move the computer giant considered and wisely rejected - the store doesn't resemble an oversized laptop.
Even accounting for possible problems, like
