未经作者Blair Kamin 许可转载。
原文链接：http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kamin/ct-met-apple-store-review-20171017-story.html
Chicago’s new Apple store is thrillingly transparent, elegantly understated and a boon to the city’s riverfront.
芝加哥新开业的苹果店，超级透明，无法描述的优雅，对于沿河区域的民众就是一个福音。
With its huge sheets of laminated glass and an ultra-thin roof of lightweight carbon fiber the store, opening Friday, is simultaneously present and absent, there and not there. From North Michigan Avenue, you look through its glassy membrane and see the river’s blue-green waters and passing tour boats. A plaza of tiered granite steps spills down to the riverfront.
周五开业的这间店铺，巨大的玻璃墙壁，超薄超轻的碳纤维屋顶，既存在，又不存在，在哪里又不在哪里。 从密歇根大街望去，穿过透明的蓝色玻璃，你可以看到蓝绿色的河水和经过的游船，一层层的花岗岩台阶延伸到河边。
And because there’s no Apple logo on the roof — a kitschy move the computer giant considered and wisely rejected — the store doesn’t resemble an oversized laptop.
经过慎重考虑，这个科技界的巨人放弃了在屋顶放置苹果LOGO的想法，因为那样店铺看起来就像一个超级大的笔记本。
Even accounting for possible problems, like the glare that invaded a portion of the interior during a preview Thursday, the store is a gem, realizing the vision of the late Chicago architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for buildings that would be reduced to their essence — an architecture of “almost nothing.”
即便是考虑到进入店铺的炫光， 这件店铺仍然就像是一颗明珠，它让人回想起已故的芝加哥建筑师「路德维希密斯凡德罗」关于建筑的理解：减少到本质-几乎不存在。
Yet “almost nothing” does not come cheap.
然后几乎不存在并不意味着廉价。
Located in the Pioneer Court plaza at 401 N. Michigan and fronting the Chicago River’s north bank, the $27 million store cost a jaw-dropping $1,350 per square foot. And Apple, which has a market capitalization of more than $800 billion, can easily foot that bill.
这间造价2700万美元的店铺，位于密歇根401的先锋法院广场， 面向芝加哥河的北岸，每平方英尺1350美元。对于拥有超过8000亿美元市值的苹果来讲，并不算什么。
While there is no architectural revolution in this building, the latest in Apple’s global rollout of new stores, it represents a skillful evolution of the company’s architectural brand: A clean-lined, seemingly effortless modernism suggests the precision and beauty of Apple’s products. In location and quality, it is certainly an upgrade from the company’s former Chicago flagship, a converted four-story building at 679 N. Michigan that opened in 2003.
虽然苹果公司近期在全球开业的店铺在建筑上没有革命性的突破，但是表达了店铺设计理念的一个进化: 「一个整洁、看似毫不费力的现代主义，表达了苹果产品的精致和美丽。」在位置上和质量上面，相对于2003年开业的四层小楼改建的前芝加哥旗舰店来说，就是一次升级。
The architects, London-based Foster + Partners, have produced such eye-catching global landmarks as London’s pickle-shaped 30 St. Mary Axe skyscraper, fondly nicknamed “The Gherkin,” and Apple’s ring-shaped, spaceshiplike headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. But the partner in charge of the project, Stefan Behling, conceived of the Chicago store not as a stand-alone object, but as a landscape that would simultaneously respect and enliven an historic yet moribund stretch of riverfront.
总部位于伦敦的Foster+Partners的建筑师们，已经创建了诸多地标：例如 被称为英国泡菜的30 St Mary Axe，外号内黄瓜，以及位于Cupertino 的苹果总部的环形建筑，被称为太空飞船。 负责这个项目的Stefan Behling表示芝加哥店铺并不是一个独立的物体，而是一个景观，尊重了过去的同时并将沿河区域一扫过去的低迷，带来了活力。
The respect is evident in the store’s low-slung profile and placement on the site’s eastern end. That means it only minimally obstructs views of 401 N. Michigan, the handsome modernist office high-rise to its east, and Tribune Tower, the neo-Gothic skyscraper to its north. The injection of new life can be seen in the way the store reconfigures its environs.
店铺位于景点的东部尽头，且店铺内配置较少，这就意味着最小化的影响店铺东边的现代化的摩天大楼和店铺北边的论坛大厦的用户的视野，这就是尊重，从店铺对待周围环境的方式也可以看出对街区活力的注入。
Chicago's new Apple store is set to open Oct. 20, 2017, in a unique building on Michigan Avenue that overlooks the Chicago River.
芝加哥的苹果新店将在10月20日开业，将成为密歇根大街上可以俯瞰芝加哥河的独特建筑。
Previously, a clifflike Beaux Arts wall separated Pioneer Court from the riverfront. To get from street level to the water, you had to walk down a curving modern staircase. Once you arrived, you encountered a bleak expanse of pavement.
之前，一面Beaux Arts 墙将Pioneer Court与沿河地区隔开。如果想从街区走到河边，你必须沿着弯曲的现代楼梯走下去。一旦你到达, 将会看到一条荒凉的小路。
Today, the cliff and the stair have been replaced by a gently tiered outdoor plaza that provides a much-easier transition between street level and the riverfront. (An elevator inside the store will provide access to those in wheelchairs.) In addition, the stairs form an amphitheater like those on Chicago's riverwalk. Now it’s up to Apple to book concerts and other programs lest the space become as dull as the river-level plaza at the nearby Trump International Hotel & Tower.
现在，在街区和沿河地区提供了更加容易的通行方式，Beaux Arts 墙和楼梯已经被广场上精美的台阶所替代，店铺内的电梯可以提供给使用轮游的游客使用。此外，这些台阶形成了一个圆形的露天剧场，就像芝加哥河的人行道一样。现在将由苹果掌控音乐会和其他节目，以免户外空间像特朗普大厦附近的 river-level 广场一样无趣。
Whether or not that transpires, the store’s transparency is a wow, blowing away fears that Apple would block visual access to the riverfront. The building’s sheets of ultra-clear, low-iron glass — 10 feet wide and ranging in height from 14 to 32 feet — give new meaning to the word “see-through.” At the corners, curving sheets of glass make clear that the building isn’t just another box.
无论是否是这样的原因，令人赞叹的透明店铺，减少了用户之前认为的苹果会阻止用户前往沿河区域的疑虑。10英尺宽，14-32英尺高的超级透明，低钢化的玻璃，带给用户的是通透的感觉。在店铺的拐角处，弯曲的玻璃，清楚滴表明这绝对不是之前的那个苹果店。
There is muscle in the membrane. The thin sheets are laminated together like “glass plywood,” Behling said, so they provide structural support. The main heavy lifting is done by the building’s four interior columns — two thin columns of stainless steel and two much-thicker, steel-supported columns encased in Italian stone. They hold up the carbon-fiber roof, whose overhangs are supposed to offer cooling shade.
细胞膜上也有肌肉，Behling 解释道： 很多层玻璃被压成玻璃板，因此能够提供结构上的支持。 店铺内的主要支撑是四个柱子来实现的，两个薄的不锈钢钢柱和两个意大利式石材包裹的较厚的钢柱。他们支撑了碳纤维的屋顶，并可以遮阳。
Apple’s decision to jettison the rooftop logo, made after a paper version of the logo was tested last June, was the right call. The logo made the building look cheesy, like a small product enlarged to giant scale. The logo was placed instead on one of the building’s large interior columns, where it is easily visible from North Michigan.
去年六月在进行过纸质模型测试后，苹果决定放弃在屋顶放置 logo，这个 logo 使店铺看起来很俗气，如同一个很小的物体被放大到巨大的比例。这个logo 最中放置在店铺内一个较大的柱子上，从密歇根的北街很容易看到。
The store’s interior is equally compelling, not only because of its openness but also because relatively little of it is devoted to pushing product.
店铺的室内设计也同样引入注目，不仅仅是开放性， 还因为它很少致力于推销产品。
At street level, the visitor encounters a “genius gallery,” a row of bleacherlike seats that overlooks a projection screen on the lower level. On the flanks, granite stairs lead downward to what Apple calls a “forum,” a meeting area with wood stools in front of the big screen. The sales floor, pleasantly column-free, occupies the underside of the “genius gallery.” There, one finds the familiar wood tables on which products are displayed and some new wrinkles, including smartly designed niches called “avenues” where you can buy things like earphones.
在街道层，游览者将会遇到一个天才画廊。一排 bleacherlike 座椅, 可以在较低的区域俯视投影屏幕。在中央，花岗岩的台阶延伸到一个被苹果称为论坛的位置，一个在大屏幕前配备木凳子的会议区域。在销售楼层，没有任何柱子，全部都是精美的产品。在哪里，你将看到熟悉的产品陈列桌和新的木纹，以及特意设计的陈列位，你可以购买如同耳机的产品。
There are many pluses, like the way the plaza’s tiered granite steps extend inside, a move that marks the latest chapter in the modernist tradition of blurring the distinction between interior and exterior. Still, there are many questions.
还有很多优点，就像广场上延伸到内部的花岗岩台阶，标志着现代主义设计上室内设计和空间设计进行融合的一步。尽管如此，还是存在一些问题。
There are no curtains or blinds, so glare may be a problem, as it appeared to be Thursday in the area immediately around the projection screen. And will birds unwittingly crash into the glassy exterior? The architects say no. In case you were wondering, they’ve also installed fine wires on the building’s roof to discourage sea gulls from pooping on it.
因为没有窗帘和百叶窗，炫光仍然是一个问题，例如本周四出现在投影屏幕上的那样。建筑师反馈不会出现小鸟是否会无意间撞上透明的玻璃的问题，假定你仍然认为有可能，他们在屋顶安置了电线，以阻止海鸥在上面排便。
The bigger issue has to do with the way Apple and its retail head, Angela Ahrendts, identify this and other new stores as “town squares.” Critics, also noting the use of the words “forum” and “avenues,” have accused the company of co-opting the language of public space. The company’s real mission, they say, is to sell products. In this view, features like the plaza have a hidden agenda: To encourage people to linger. And the longer they linger, the more they will buy.
更大的问题是：苹果和它的零售负责人Angela Ahrendts将新店称之为城市广场。批评家们也注意到 "论坛" 和 "途径" 这几个词的使用, 指责公司滥用公共空间的语言。公司的真正使命是销售产品。从这个角度，像广场的特征暗含另外一层意思：鼓励人们流连忘返。他们逗留的时间越长, 他们购买的东西就越多。
While that may be true, Chicago has a long tradition, dating back to the old Daily News Building at 400 W. Madison St. of privately owned riverfront buildings that provide top-tier architecture and public space. Apple’s new store extends and enriches that tradition, even though it’s replete with unintended irony.
虽然这可能是真的，但芝加哥有着优秀的传统，位于麦迪逊大街400号的老新闻大厦，同样位于沿河地区，同样提供了顶级的建筑空间和公共空间。 苹果的新店铺扩展并丰富了该传统，尽管它充满了意想不到的讽刺。
The very company that has caused us to stare endlessly into our cellphones is now issuing an invitation to look up and come together in a shared space — its space. More than inside and outside are merging here. So are the civic and the commercial realms. It is the latest twist of the digital age.
让我们不停地盯着手机看的那家公司, 现在发出了一个邀请, 在它的共享空间内聚集在一起。公民和商业领域也是如此，这是数字时代的最新转折。
