Cold snap gets the best of Chicago’s flagship Apple store

Designed with a roof shaped like a Macbook and 32-foot floor to ceiling glass walls, Norman Foster’s Apple store in Chicago was not made for winter.

Now that a cold snap has hit the city, the sloping roof’s inability to stop frosty precipitation from falling into the public spaces surrounding the store has led to Apple cordoning off all areas except the entrance, according to Architect’s Newspaper. The precautions mean the Apple store’s so-called “Town Square” and waterfront access along the Chicago River is effectively blocked until winter ends or another way is found for the store to handle winter weather — all of which is providing fodder for critics of the store’s design.

Adding insult to injury, the store’s outer glass paneling seems to be breaking under the cold as well; one visitor captured a picture of what appears to be a curving crack in the glass facade and posted it online on SkyscraperPage Forum.

“Very cool space but was surprised to see a crack in one of the glass panels. An associate said it cracked last night due to the cold,” the user’s caption noted.

[Architect’s Newspaper] — Erin Hudson