Boxy Apple store could shrink popular plaza

In today's tech-crazed world, it's no surprise that Apple wants to open a large store on a prime corner of San Francisco's Union Square.

What's baffling is that a company renowned for design innovation has hired one of the world's most acclaimed architecture firms, only to unload a box that would look at home in Anymall, U.S.A.

Worse, it's a box that would displace one of downtown's friendliest works of public art, a bronze fountain by Ruth Asawa that - unlike the proposed polished Apple - could exist nowhere else but here.

The plans for the northwest corner of Post and Stockton streets were filed less than two weeks ago, and the design is easy to describe: a cube with unbroken walls of ultra-clear glass on the north and south, two tall floors held in place by a solid frame of sleek steel.

Inside, the upper level would be pulled back from the glass wall facing Union Square to create a mezzanine-like space reached by staircases at either end. The upper level would also open to a new rectangular plaza above Stockton Street that would face an entrance to the Grand Hyatt San Francisco.

The Apple crate would replace a four-story triangular retail building that opened as part of the Grand Hyatt in 1973 and for the last 15 years has held a Levi's flagship store.

The most surprising thing about the new design is the apparent architect, Foster + Partners. It's the London firm founded by Norman Foster, 1999 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and a life peer whose title is Lord Foster of Thames Bank.

Rigorous elegance

More to the point, Foster is architect for the tech behemoth's planned headquarters in Cupertino, a gleaming cross between a spaceship and a doughnut that was unveiled by Steve Jobs in the Apple founder's last public appearance.

Foster's love of rigorous elegance is seen in the simplicity of the downtown store's metal shell and the clean precision of the cantilevered mezzanine. But the overall building is a misfire. It has nothing to do with its setting.

One obvious clue is the all-glass wall that faces Union Square. Very Apple, very sci-fi - and exposed to direct sunlight nearly the entire day. You know curtains or tinted glass aren't part of the plan, so customers will bake unless a fortune is spent on heat-resistant ultra-clear panes.

The treatment of Stockton Street is far worse.

The new building would meet that busy pedestrian corridor with an 80-foot-long windowless wall, sidewalk to roof. Alongside it to the north, the raised plaza would sit atop a blank wall, except for the break where a confined flight of steps lead up to a deep narrow "public" space.

There's no loss in substituting a new Apple for an old triangle that doesn't really fit the right-angled formality of the Union Square district. But this is one of the busiest retail areas in the country. You don't treat a key block as a back alley.

Folk art with populist flair

Nor do you remove a well-known sculpture without even acknowledging the fact.

The work in question is Asawa's "San Francisco Fountain," and it's nothing like the ethereal wire pieces that are seen in such settings as the tower at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. This is folk art with a populist flair, 41 bronze panels that cloak a 7-foot-high circular fountain and are studded with local touches - obvious ones, such as the City Hall dome popping up from the back, but also the sign of Finocchio's, where female impersonators were the attraction until 1999, and a group image of a then-young Grateful Dead.

The fountain was also designed as the centerpiece of the existing triangular plaza along Stockton Street, wrapped in the upward ripple of brick steps. Passersby stop, look, take photographs and smile.

Apple mum on plans

Apple, apparently, has different ideas. A study of the plans shows no sign of the fountain. The broad, inviting steps are gone.

I use the word "apparently" because Apple declined to provide information on the project beyond what is in public records.

This includes such basic facts as when the company hopes to open, as well as the participation of Foster + Partners, which sources outside the company confirm. Hyatt, which commissioned the fountain and owns the site, deferred comment to Apple.

The project was only announced on May 16, so there's plenty of time to take the strong points of the proposed design and make it into something that feels like it belongs. But that could be tough.

Apple's desire to move to Union Square from its current shop at 1 Stockton St. was announced by Mayor Ed Lee, who didn't stop there.

"Apple's new store is quite simply incredible," Lee gushed. "I can think of no better location for the world's most stunning Apple store. ... I want to thank Apple for their investment in this city and continued commitment to growing jobs in San Francisco."

Seeking more commitment

With that kickoff, the City Planning Department can't send Apple and Foster back to the drawing board. It's another example of a task-oriented mayor's office putting an emphasis on upbeat press releases over a long-term commitment to the city's physical environment.

But as the project moves forward, let's hope that its relationship to Stockton Street improves - and that one of the city's most important living artists is shown the respect she deserves.

John King is The San Francisco Chronicle's urban design critic. E-mail: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron