The most recent headline-grabbing news about the BAM Cultural District was that the Enrique Norten-designed library was not going to happen after all because of a lack of funds. As an article in the new issue of The Architect’s Newspaper points out, other pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together, thanks is part to the Bloomberg gang getting more hands on by moving the BAM LDC under the umbrella of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP).
First up, the Theatre for a New Audience (at right), designed by Frank Gehry and Hugh Hardy, will move next door to the Mark Morris Dance Company on Lafayette, which opens up room for a decent-sized park at the corner of Lafayette and Ashland. This open space, currently being referred to as Grand Plaza, will act as an entry way to the three major cultural institutions; parking will go underneath the park. In addition, HPD has finished taking proposals for a new mixed-used building on the corner of Fulton and Ashland whose anchor tenant will be the contemporary dance company Danspace. In addition to financing, the big question in all this is timing. In addressing why it’s been nine years since planning began, DBP Prez Joe Chan said, Coordinating development with cultural groups is a lot more complicated than private developers.
A Second Act for the BAM Cultural District [Architect's Newspaper] GMAP