The Case for 'Adaptive Reuse' at 370 Jay in Downtown

Union outrage notwithstanding, NYU will soon begin remaking the former Transit HQ at 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn and transform it into the state-of-the-art Center for Urban Science and Progress, and today the Times takes a look at the building that many have simply labeled an eyesore. The point of the column is that “it’s quite possible to respect it as a work of architecture. It speaks clearly of the period after World War II when America set out to sweep away the cobwebs of the past even as it perpetuated the memory of those who fought and died just a few years earlier.” The 1951-vintage building has been hailed by some architectural historians as a great example of municipal, modernist architecture. NYU says it intends to pursue “adaptive reuse” in terms of transforming the building, and the article notes that all those snazzy renderings we’ve seen so far have been by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. What won’t stay in the building, though, is the “18-foot-long bas-relief granite map in the open-air entrance arcade listed the transportation workers who had served in the recent war, showing — with five-pointed stars set into the stone — where 24 of them died.” McBrooklyn, which took the photo above, had an appreciative post about the map. According to the Times, the MTA will oversee its relocation.
Remaking a Building to Make It Easier to Love [NY Times]
Downtown Brooklyn-NYU Deal: Victory Lap Edition [Brownstoner]
Photo by McBrooklyn