BAM Cultural District: Alive If Not Exactly Kicking
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 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
I agree with everything John Ife said, except I have never bought a Christmas tree at the garden center.
1:56, it’s conjecture, but I suspect that the only hope for the proposed Visual and Performing Arts Library is if the BPL can find a developer who will build it on the lower floors of a new residential building. That would probably mean a complete re-design, and your comment seemed to be more about the Norten design than the possibility of a special branch library.
Re 1:56
Yeah, I’ve shopped at the garden center lots of times, and every time there have been quite a few customers in there. Used to get my Christmas tree there too, until last December, when their selection was laughably pathetic.
is there any hope for the library? it was such a cool design…and what about the weird garden center there…what’s up with that place? has anyone every bought stuff there? has anyone ever seen a customer go in there? WTF?
Eryximachus, you are confusing the former BAM Local Development Corp., now part of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, with the Brooklyn Academy of Music. They’re not one and the same.
The observation by 10:21 is correct, with the one major exception that the BAM Cultural District maintains the existing street pattern, rather than becoming a “super-block.”
Eryximachus (oh, please): it’s nice to know I’m just un”respectable” enough to be unlikely to rub elbows with you at BAM events. Enjoy the Met!
“designed by Frank Gehry and High Hardy”. its ‘Hugh’ Hardy, by the way.
I’ve got a better idea. Why doesn’t BAM renovate their space so it doesn’t feel (or sound) like you’re in a public school? How about an orchestra pit? Maybe they can insulate the doors to the street so that if you are sitting on the side of the hall you won’t hear fire trucks blaring down Flatbush?
Most major universities have a better performance space than BAM.
BAM is a nice building on the outside, but educational types with an eye for 3rd graders have gutted this building so that it is hardly a respectable place to enjoy high art.
Even the lowly Metropolitan Opera House with its kitschy 1960’s decore is a far better night on the town than BAM.
The area needs to be revitalized, but that will come when the Atlantic Yards are built. Instead, BAM should focus on their own property instead of trying to spread themselves too thin.
flatbush avenue & surrounding blocks, between AY and the Manhattan Bridge could use some revitilization..im happy that this is happening
Sounds like Lincoln Center (and even kind of looks like it).