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Last night the Downtown Brooklyn Commons Project Exhibit was held at Borough Hall. Students from City College, New York City College of Technology, Polytechnic University of NYU and Pratt Institute displayed architectural models, plans and recommendations for Downtown Brooklyn’s existing open spaces and the new Brooklyn Bridge Park. There were renderings for proposed buildings, bridges and parkland. Some of the exhibits were more conceptual, like a Downtown Brooklyn entirely made of wood. Another presentation took you virtually through the re-imagined neighborhood. The photos above show some of the designs that were on display.


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  1. There’s a lot of sweat and commitment from these students. The area is an enormous undertaking and their work shows a passion that can only be achieved through countless hours of sleep deprivation, angst, stress, malnutrition and constant indecisiveness in their understanding of “what next?” Anything presented to challenge our norms and standards as to what “should be” is commended, as well as their work. I look forward to seeing more work like this.

  2. I didn’t see the presentation but isn’t this what learning is all about? I love the imagination these students show and you know? Ya never know. Maybe one day one of them will be in a position to actually make something happen. We can hope.

  3. Great comments guys!- snark much?
    Anyway – it was a pretty interesting event. Nice to see the student’s thoughtful designs (they don’t have the years of cynical baggage that the lovely commenters here bring).

    I couldn’t quite understand some of the proposals because there was so much presented – but I would like to be able to get to Brooklyn Bridge Park from Downtown Brooklyn without dealing with the unpleasantness of Old Fulton Street.

  4. Show of hands: How many people actually saw the presentation? Hmmm, I guess that is my arm-pit I am smelling. Even accounting for the disconnect between undergraduate studio and the real world–I’ve been to both–all of the comments above are off-base.

  5. Rob, everything is about money….. the city won’t be able to afford to rehab the buildings, and so they’ll move residents to low scale developments that are cheaper to build and maintain, tearing down some of the larger complexes and putting in mixed use buildings. Rob clearly doesn’t understand urban planning or long term budget/population projections.

  6. Downtown, once they tear down the projects in 10-20 years will be a vast canvas for re-imagination of the dense city-scape. Oh, did you think the city will be able to afford rehabbing ALL of those project buildings, when they can be converted into taxable land?