The November 3, 2003 newsstand issue of BusinessWeek will highlight the winners of the 2003 Annual Architectural Awards. In collaboration with its sister publication Architectural Record, BusinessWeek offers the contest annually to reward “distinguished architecture for its ability to meet serious business goals.” On this year’s list of winners is Apple, for their SoHo, New York City retail store location.
Apple joins just nine other recipients for the honor, including locations like London’s Darwin Centre Museum’ the Sekii Ladies Clinic of Hurukawa, Miyaga, Japan; Gannett/USA Today’s corporate headquarters, located in McLean, Va., and several others.
“The BusinessWeek awards program, sponsored by the American Institute ofArchitects, is alone in having both architects and businesspeople on its jury.Together, they decide how well corporate headquarters, offices, hospitals,hotels, and museums address business issues,” explained the publication.
Apple’s SoHo store is one of Apple’s highest-profile retail locations, along with similar showcase spots in Los Angeles and Chicago. The retail store is a thoroughly modern spot contained within an historic building — an old post office — and contains all the accouterments of Apple’s other retail locations in an expanded format, including the Genius Bar, where users can go to get help or have their Macs serviced; a Theater location for training and presentations, complete with red velvet movie theater-style seating; and a centerpiece glass staircase that fills the center of the store. And like other Apple retail store locations, the store is hosting a “Night of the Panther” event this evening to celebrate the release of Mac OS X v10.3, “Panther.”
The November 3rd issue of BusinessWeek will hit newsstands beginning October 27, 2003. Also expect to see the story hit BusinessWeek’s online site as well.