Gehry Officially Off Yards Project
The writing’s been on the wall for some time, but The Times delivered the official death blow in an online article yesterday afternoon: “Frank Gehry is out as the architect for the Barclays Center arena, the centerpiece of the long-delayed and financially challenged Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, according to government officials and real estate…
The writing’s been on the wall for some time, but The Times delivered the official death blow in an online article yesterday afternoon: “Frank Gehry is out as the architect for the Barclays Center arena, the centerpiece of the long-delayed and financially challenged Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, according to government officials and real estate executives who have been briefed on the plans.” Taking the reins post-bait-and-switch will be a Kansas City-based architecture firm called Ellerbe Becket. Unfortunately for all of us, The Times describes the new design as bearing a resemblance to Conseco Field as well as an “airplane hangar.” Meanwhile, Atlantic Yards Report notes that Forbes is putting the odds of the Nets making it to Brooklyn at 50-50.
Developer Drops Gehry’s Design for Brooklyn Arena [NY Times]
FCR Names New Architect for Brooklyn Arena [Reuters]
Starchitect Dumped from Atlantic Yards for Cheaper Option [NY Daily News]
Star Architect Out of Arena Project [NY Post]
Better a bland effing airplane hanger, than an overpriced, Fortress of Solitude alien spaceship on the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic. While I like some of Gehry’s work, it is also a well known fact that some of his futuristic shapes are not watertight, and have other structural problems, and that often, new materials, new ways of building are needed to implement them. I’d rather he not perfect his engineering on my dime, in a project that is fast turning into a speedy end run to capitalize on expiring cheap financing.
Truth be told, I’d rather not have any stadium there, it still has not been shown where this is of any long term benefit to the public, will still be a traffic nightmare, and please don’t start with team spirit, or poor kids going to basketball games. The projection now is that AY will end up with a stadium, maybe one residential tower, and a hell of a lot of parking.
I was always in favor of the Atlantic Yards project, but in taking a look at the new Architect’s porfolio online, I don’t think this is necessarily going to be a bad thing. This firm seems more specialized in fact in building arena’s of this nature, and seems to do some good work, in my opinion. Take a look at some of their work…including the Guandong Olympic Stadium…
http://www.ellerbebecket.com/expertise/portfolio/2/0/0/Sports_Venue.html
these guys are good. talk about fitting in with the rest of the neighborhood, this thing looks just as inspired as the atlantic center.
I blame both – not a fan of Ratner, but DDDB’s litigation has made an already undesirable development even worse. Not just the design – we are now getting no “Urban Room” public space, very little in the way of the much-touted low-income housing, and a “phase 2” eastern section that will likely languish for years and eat up even more of the public dollar than it already has.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that nothing will be built. That would be preferable to this drawn-out mess, IMO.
Hardly. They’ve exposed this sham deal for what it always was – taxpayers paying a fortune to rent the Nets from Ratner for a few years.
The original plan called for taxpayer funding of up to $2 billion. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of DDDB and their ilk, all Ratner’s got from us so far is $50 million that was supposed to go to affordable housing and the original sweet heart deal to buy the land for far less than it was worth.
And in the meantime most of New York has been made aware of the, I’ll call it, criminal nature of how much Ratner’s trying to bilk from us. Gehry was just slight of hand for the financial deal.
Those who ascribe this bait and switch to DDDB are being very generous to Ratner. From the beginning there were questions as to whether Ratner was ever going to use Gehry’s plan. Looking at the two Ratner built malls across the street would seem to indicate that architecture has never been important to the developer. Much in the same way that Ratner cooked the books to show a financial benefit to the public when it is clearer now that it will be a net (sic) drain on the commonweal, so too did he dress the pig to sell it to the public. Blaming those who said this from the first for causing it is a little ass backwards!
100% agree.
Although the rendering is kinda weird with all that stuff in the foreground, the article compares the design to Conesco Fieldhouse which isn’t so terrible. It’s not going to dazzle, but isn’t an eyesore either.
Randolph, my thoughts exactly. While I admire and support dissent as necessary in this sort of shady-from-the-start project, it seems that DDDB has done way more damage than good.
is it just me or is the end result of all the bitching and moaning by develop don’t destroy and the like that we are going to end up with a watered down version of the same thing. they are going to build something there, and now because of all the delays and law suits and resulting financial trouble we end up with an effing airplane hanger instead of a gehery building?