I live in Chicago, and this is a bunch of fuss over nothing. The 'watch out for ice' signs are everywhere and a ton of places get cordoned off in the winter. This is not unusual or unique to the new Apple store.
Have also been to the store and the blocked off area doesn't impact egress/ingress.
The real flaw of the new Apple store is its glass walls and their tendency to trick birds into flying into it. The ice thing is a non-story.
Whilst I'm not going to apologise for Apple's building designers, last time I was in Chicago (March '17) I couldn't walk half a block without tripping over a "watch for falling ice" sign. So it seems very few people can design for snow in Chicago. Is this a local problem, or are these "falling ice" signs common throughout all snowy US cities?
(I'm a UK resident, we handle snow by bringing the country to a standstill for 48 hours and complaining a lot...)
Yeah, this is a much harder problem to solve than most people realize, particularly in areas that see a lot of snow. In Stockholm you see these signs as well, and in fact on winters with a lot of snow you’ll see people literally shoving snow off the top of buildings in order to minimize dangers and reduce weight on the rooftops.
A heated gutter around the perimeter with heated drainage duct would be needed for egress. If they just heat the perimeter and let water drip off the roof, it'll immediately form ice piles below.
At first it seems like a design flaw, but then how did the city zoning and building permit process not catch it? Maybe they don't care or there is no ordinance and therefore Apple's architect and builder doesn't care either. It may be entirely intentional and by design.
Like with the new Apple campus, the first day it was open, visitors such as John Gruber noted there were signs everywhere warning about how slippery the ground was because apparently it wasn't designed with the idea of dealing with being wet from rain which made it very slippery, or how the showcase room while beautiful was not practical for it's intended purpose. Apple's builders do seem to have an issue with designing for use versus appearance.
I live here, and am not surprised that design took precedence over functionality. Not planning to visit the store anytime soon, but people say it’s neat.
Have also been to the store and the blocked off area doesn't impact egress/ingress.
The real flaw of the new Apple store is its glass walls and their tendency to trick birds into flying into it. The ice thing is a non-story.