A Half-Million-Dollar "Oops!"

Before heading home from work I read that one of the massive pieces of glass at the Fifth Avenue Apple store <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/21/450k-panel-of-glass-at-apples-iconic-5th-avenue-cube-store-shattered-by-snowblower/">broke from the impact of a snowblower</a>. I couldn't resist hopping off the subway 20 minutes later to take a closer look.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/12095498594/" title="Apple Cube by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Apple Cube" height="800" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7427/12095498594_2c0abe9a2e_c.jpg" width="562" /></a><br />[All photos by John Hill] <br /><br />The story linked above guesses that the cost to replace the glass will be $450,000, based on the bill for renovating the cube in 2011, when it changed from 18 panes per side to 3. Considering that each pane is made up of (I think) 5 layers of ~10'x32' tempered glass laminated to each other, this cost does not seem surprising.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/12095113415/" title="Apple Cube by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Apple Cube" height="360" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5542/12095113415_94f6de02de_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Based on the uniform pattern of the break, it's obvious the tempered glass and plastic layer did their job...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/12095487624/" title="Apple Cube by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Apple Cube" height="1024" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5515/12095487624_488acdd6d0_b.jpg" width="645" /></a><br /><br />...so much so that the store is still open regardless of the 300 square feet of broken glass overhead:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/12095123465/" title="Apple Cube by archidose, on Flickr"><img alt="Apple Cube" height="1024" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3752/12095123465_26cee2df06_b.jpg" width="576" /></a>

A Half-Million-Dollar "Oops!"

Before heading home from work I read that one of the massive pieces of glass at the Fifth Avenue Apple store broke from the impact of a snow...

Read more »