Ourousoff Weighs In On Barclay's Center Design
The results, unveiled on Wednesday, are somewhat more promising. Some of Mr. Gehry’s original ideas, like opening views from the sidewalk into the arena, have been restored. Mr. Ratner has reduced the size of the structure, moving team offices to another site. And Shop has wrapped it in an appealing rust-colored steel skin, which will…
i, a person of PH, do mind the hole. you do not represent me or all of PH, jack slade.
smeyer – what exactly do you think a few sports bars is going to do to the ambience of flatbush and atlantic? have you been to 4th avenue at atlantic? bars, trashy delis, electronics stores. seen what’s on flatbush currently? empty storefronts, bad pizza, outpatient treatment services. as long as they handle their own trash and have enough restrooms, i think even sports bars would be an upgrade (or, at least, not a downgrade).
someone pointed out that the hole has been there for over 70 yrs. For the record and just to reiterate.. we the people of PH do not mind the hole.
Maybe the rust color is for a basket ball look?
Updated, 3:04 p.m. | The proposed basketball arena that has long been the centerpiece of the contentious Atlantic Yards development near Downtown Brooklyn would result in a net loss to the city of nearly $40 million over 30 years, according to a new report prepared by the city’s Independent Budget Office.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/report-finds-net-loss-to-city-from-atlantic-yards-arena/?hp
I have to agree with smeyer418 – since when is “rust” an appealing color?
I love it. I thought the original Gehry design was too kooky, hated the soulless feel of the first Ellerbe design, but this feels contemporary and iconic, and looks like it will integrate well into the neighborhood, such as it is.
I live in the area, and you can’t tell me this won’t be a major upgrade to the eyesore that’s there now. I would love to take my family to world-class games and events there.
Kudos to Ratner for listening to criticism and pulling out a solid design at the 11th hour.
ENY–good point. I would love to see the Nets rocking downtown Brooklyn if they can get the transit hub right.
The concerns about traffic are in my opinion overblown. Of course there will be traffic at game time – just like ANY metropolitan arena location! Madison Square Garden seems to do just fine, with fewer public transportation links, in a more heavily congested area.
I hate rust buildings. I think they always look like someone couldn’t afford paint or sealer. They bleed and look miserable. I have yet to see ONE of them that I like. I also think the rendering looks like a closed cell phone with a bottle cap opener. Probably represents the sports bars that will open on Atlantic and Flatbush like near Madison Square Garden…anyone think that will be an enticing neighborhood.
You really need to give DDDB credit. They have done exactly what they intended to do which has been successful so far. You need to admire success when they clearly were the underdog fighting the Mayor, multiple Governors and the powers that be.
The new design is an improvement over the previous one but Gehry’s arena design was better. More interesting and striking. His designs for the rest of the complex was awful. Be that as it may, I think it was always going to be too problematic to actually build.
Traffic and mass transit-wise, the whole thing is a nightmare. I don’t think they can up the capacity of the hub- wasn’t there a report last year that the whole system operates at max capacity in terms of trains running?