#Apple store chicago architect upgrade#

Outside The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare, the newest addition to Navy Pier on Sept. Toronto-based KPMB Architects designed the building, which Northwestern calls the Global Hub. Linking the building’s four wings, the light-filled atrium features curving white balconies that echo the exterior’s water-inspired curves and two flights of wide wood steps where students check their smartphones, write on their laptops, eat and people-watch. The Chicago office of Edmonton, Alberta-based Stantec designed the plaza and an adjacent Cubs office building.Īn indoor hub for future CEOs: At once visually dynamic and calmly ordered, the atrium of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management building created an instant indoor town square for students at the elite business school. There’s also activity on non-game days, including such winter attractions as an ice skating rink. The plaza’s brick-paved zone, which includes fountains and a bandstand, proved equally popular. Young fans, apparently unable to remain in their seats for an entire nine innings, romped around its grassy section during games. Its architecture, simultaneously robust and refined, is highlighted by a catwalk that threads through a spectacular row of roof trusses, giving an overview of its column-free factory floor.Īn outdoor hub for Cub fans: A smartly designed outdoor plaza that replaced grungy surface parking lots outside historic Wrigley Field, the Park at Wrigley was a surprising public-space hit. Good things in small packages, suburbs: Can a factory be beautiful? Yes, if it’s the Trumpf Smart Factory in northwest suburban Hoffman Estates.ĭesigned by Berlin architects Barkow Leibinger as an outpost of a leading machine tool manufacturer based near Stuttgart, Germany, the small but stylish factory shows potential clients what Trumpf’s digitally networked machines can make out of sheet metal.

#Apple store chicago architect upgrade#

A gem of less-is-more modernism, the store marked the latest milestone in the city’s long-term push to upgrade its once-industrial downtown riverfront.

The architects, London-based Foster + Partners, and their client, the Cupertino, Calif., computer giant, considered and then wisely rejected a rooftop Apple logo that would have made the two-story store resemble an oversized laptop.