Closing Bell: Looking at New Builds in Historic Districts
This Thursday evening an exhibit called “Context\Contrast” is opening at the Brooklyn Historical Society. The exhibit looks at new architecture in historic districts since 1967, with a focus on Brooklyn Heights, South Street Seaport, SoHo, and the Upper East Side. Here’s more on it: “The legal mandate to determine the ‘appropriateness’ of new architecture in…
This Thursday evening an exhibit called “Context\Contrast” is opening at the Brooklyn Historical Society. The exhibit looks at new architecture in historic districts since 1967, with a focus on Brooklyn Heights, South Street Seaport, SoHo, and the Upper East Side. Here’s more on it: “The legal mandate to determine the ‘appropriateness’ of new architecture in historic districts is one of the [Landmarks Preservation] Commission’s most challenging tasks. How can new buildings best relate to their historic contexts? By replicating their older neighbors, or through a deliberate contrast of contemporary material and style? Can a new building be taller—or shorter—or shaped differently than others in its district and still be sensitive to its landmark setting? Context/Contrast asks how the Commission’s charge of ensuring ‘appropriate’ new architecture in historic districts has allowed neighborhoods to evolve without endangering the essential character that contributes to their public value and makes them worth protecting.”
Context/Contrast: New Architecture in Historic Districts 1967 to Present [Brooklyn Historical Society]
yadda yadda…..
I saw this exhibition last year at the AIA hq on LaGuardia Place. It’s interesting. It kind of highlight the divide between architects and lay people.
Architects bemoan the traditional designs (like the one pictured above) and regular people scratch their heads over some of the kooky modern designs that are supposed to “fit it.”