It's
not easy to be cutting-edge. You may remember last month when Apple was having difficulty getting Boston's
Back Bay Architectural Commission to approve the design of what should be a new flagship retail
store in Beantown. Similarly, NYC shot down a design for an all-glass storefront facade that was proposed for the
city's flatiron district. However, it's been a different story in Alexandria, Virginia.According to ifoAppleStore, the city recently approved Apple's proposal for a steel-and-glass building with two Apple logo signs in place of what used to be a McDonald's. Kudos to Alexandria's Board of Architectural Review, which stated that it "...[discourages] standard, off-the-shelf, aluminum storefront components that tend to result in repetitive storefront designs.” Like I said about the proposed Boston store, I think the juxtaposition of contemporary and historic architecture in a city is quite attractive. Are you listening, Back Bay Architectural Commission?
[Via ifoAppleStore]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-03-2006 @ 6:32PM
Brendan said...
I couldn't agree more! The Boston store would be cool! And I live in Ireland!
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4-03-2006 @ 6:36PM
Mike said...
The article says "615 King Street in Alexandria". The google map image next to the summary actually shows around 3700 King St., the actual location is much closer to the water, in a very different part of town.
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4-03-2006 @ 6:42PM
NorthernVirginian said...
It's things like this that make me proud of where I live. Arlington may be the smallest county with regards to area, but there is a fairly high density of Apple stores around here; Now our neighbors in Alexandria allow Apple to do something that both Boston and NYC wouldn't. I love this area.
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4-04-2006 @ 12:25AM
michael said...
Based on my previous experiences with the Alexandria BAR, I'm kind of surprised (though pleased) that they're letting this go through. Even the Gap and Banana Republic, and Restoration Hardware stores across King Street from the Apple Store location had some trouble getting their facades approved, and they're far more in line with the existing architecture.
Cool.
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4-05-2006 @ 3:09AM
dontEATnachos said...
Yeah, I'm really psyched that this will probably go through. I live right near King St. in Alexandria and this would be a perfect fit in the area.
I'd always wondered what they were going to replace that ugly white-brick McDonalds with. Now I know it's something classy that will lure me in every time I'm walking to Chipotle.
Touch?pple, I may no longer be able to resist your delicious MacBook pro ...
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