Apple has made a name for itself as a master in design, don’t argue with me, but this has not come without some questionable decisions over the years. From the iPad Pro’s “Pencil” stylus, which had to be inserted into the Lightning connector on the bottom of the tablet in a way that would suggest Apple just wants you to break the stylus, to the iPhone 6’s battery case that gave the phone a hump on the back, to the Magic Mouse 2, which had to be charged while it was upside down.
Well, the Cupertino-based company has done it again, taking the statement, form over function to a whole new level. Last year, Apple was very proud to open the doors to the new Apple Park, and it true Apple fashion, the campus was a marvel with all-glass windows and doors in what was described as a means to encourage collaboration and cooperation.
On January 2nd of this year, the campus was opened to employees for occupation and last month, reports emerged that sacrificing functionality for looks was a bad idea. Apparently, on the same day that the employees reported to work, two of them walked right into the glass walls and happened to mildly cut their faces during the accidents. Two days later, a third employee walked right into the glass walls again, however, this time round there was no bleeding reported.
Following these accidents, Apple employees started putting post-it notes on the walls to alert their colleagues that there was an impenetrable object in front of them. However, they were taken down because “they detracted from the building’s design.”
According to Albert Salvador, a Cupertino building official, there was concern of employees running into the glass walls that were placed all around the campus as the cafeteria’s doors were indistinguishable from the glass walls, however, he noted that the building was safe as per their safe codes, as they “don’t look at running into glass when inspecting buildings.”
There are no official reports coming from Apple regarding the incidents aside from the Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive, who dismissed Apple Park’s design criticisms as “utterly bizarre because it wasn’t made for you… and I know how we work… and you don’t!”
This response isn’t surprising since the company’s response to the iPhone 4’s network reception issues was, “You’re holding your phone wrong.”
