Architects asleep at the wheel at Miami Beach store

In response to so many previous incorrect posts:

The exterior of the building was not designed by Apple; it was originally designed by architect T. Hunter Henderson in 1929. The facade was redesigned in 1939,and again in 1941 and 1956. The last remodel removed all elements of the original building design on the north elevation (on Lincoln Road). The west elevation remained largely intact over the years. The west elevation contains a similar entry feature as the Apple Store location. The entire building was recently renovated, and this included the re-intorduction of the original facade design on Lincoln Road (including the Apple Store). As Apple was restoring the original 1929 look of the building, no special approvals from the city of Miami Beach's Historic Preservation Board were required. The corrigated feature is stucco, not metal. It is one of the most dramatic Art Deco facades in Miami. The ceiling on the interior was stepped and very dramatic, however, apple covered up this feature in their interior design. The City allowed this because the exterior was being completely restored. Apple would have found an alternate location if they could not design the interior as they saw fit, and the previous exterior would not have been touched.

Miami Beach does not require any particular style for new buildings. They must be modern designs of today. You will never see a Med-Revival building for a commercial structure in Miami Beach.

NO, _NOT_ corrugated metal!

RETRACTION, please! The poster has no sense of architectural history.

MOD POSTER (and TUAW) DOWN.

Being in construction management my guess is that it was probably a design restriction from the mall itself. I would love to build Apple Stores for Apple and have to deal with the compromise of designs, how cool would that be? I give TUAW premission to release my email if Apple contacts them to hire me.

1. As others have said before, it's plaster made bumpy, not corregated metal. I second the strict building codes "theory". It will keep the over all look consistent, and only a couple of Apple fanboys (me included) will care.

2. they'll still make it look apple-esque on the inside. In this one apple store in Dallas, it is built out of ugly yellow bricks, and the building was probably built in the 1970's, but on the inside it still has a very contemporary apple-esque design. Another Apple store just opened up about a month ago in the northpark mall, the same mall where dell is building one of their new "store" things. I'm sure this wasnt on purpose...

If you look at a photo at the REST of lincoln road, this wouldn't look at all out of place. In fact, it probably looks a little nicer than most.

Lincoln Road is Miami Beach's noveau, entirely imitation post-1930s art deco. It's several blocks north of the actual Art Deco district, (which, notably, is filled with a lot of closed hotels due to the simple fact that most of them are old, outmoded, and hellzaexpensive.)

Hating on the Apple Store is hating on Lincoln Road, which I guess i'm cool with.
Better pictures here though:
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/lincoln_road_storefront.html

I agree with cbuck. This whole post sucks. Not worth much more typin

When I first saw that picture I instantly thought. Sand Castle.

As strange as it looks on its own, this design matches pretty well the style of Lincoln Road. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

The walls had a faux coral rock look before. This is an improvement!

You should know that there used to be a faux Coral look to that storefront. I wish I had taken a picture before they started renovating. This store was supposed to open a year and half ago, but due to the archetectual and design restrictions of the City of Miami Beach, it has been delayed this long. It may look bland now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see design changes down the road. Once a store is in there.

Getting the CoMB to agree to anything is a nearly insurmountable task. I live six blocks from this store, and I am glad to see it there. I hope it is a success for Apple and around for many, many years.