A Look Inside the New Brooklyn Children's Museum
[nggallery id=”22035″ template=galleryview] We were lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of the new $48 million Rafael Vinoly-designed addition to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum yesterday. (Another $16 million is being spent on the interiors and exhibitions.) The L-shaped addition, which used over 8 million yellow tiles on its exterior, makes the BCM the…
[nggallery id=”22035″ template=galleryview]
We were lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of the new $48 million Rafael Vinoly-designed addition to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum yesterday. (Another $16 million is being spent on the interiors and exhibitions.) The L-shaped addition, which used over 8 million yellow tiles on its exterior, makes the BCM the first LEED-certified museum in the city. In addition to using green building materials, the design incorporates a number of energy-saving devices such as light and heat sensors to maximize efficiency. In addition to new entry and outdoor areas, the two most striking portions to the addition are a colorful play and learning area for small children designed by May & Watkins (slides 13 and 14) as well as a multi-storefront streetscape being built in the old portion of the building. As you can see from the slideshow, they’re on the home stretch. As of now, the ribbon-cutting is scheduled for some time in September.
11:44#2, I believe your description of the staff is accurate. But I suspect its the same thing when you compare any business in New York to Sourth Norwalk, CT or most other places outside of this city. I would venture to say employees in drug and grocery stores are a tad more attentive than those in our local Duane Reades and Key Foods…same for hotels, restaurants, taxis, department stores, offices, etc., etc. Unfortunately low expectations of service/employee involvement are just a part of life living here, although it does add an additional unique quality to New York – nothing like watching tourists get a dressing down by a veteran server at a deli!
“That building is hideous. Across the street from it are some of the most gorgeous old limestone buildings you’ll find in NY, but they face this yellow monstrosity that is completely out of context with the neighborhood.”
I live on Prospect Place between Albany and Kingston and I think it looks great. It doesn’t fit into the context of the very stately Victorian buildings across the street on Brooklyn Ave. and St. Marks, but why MUSTY every single structure in the area be “compatible” with the area’s historic housing stock? That’s just silly. The design makes the place stand out as a bright and creative oasis among some very distinguished old buildings. What’s wrong with that? Looks good to me.
faithful, who cares about kids when we have neighborhood aesthetics and re-sale values to worry about?
Museums in Brooklyn and the other boroughs don’t get the same amount of funding as those in Manhattan- and they don’t bring in the same numbers either. But without funding you can’t make improvements to do that so it’s a vicious cycle. Even sadder is that Brooklyn’s museums are world class museums and could use that money more than the Met.
I hadn’t really thought about it from a kid’s perspective but it does make sense- I just confess to hating that shade of yolk yellow. Still think it’s hideous anyway- they could have done it differently.
Although new and larger facilities will be good, what they really needed to do was maintain what they had. Kids have a natural tendency to move or take loose items, and to eventually break things from overuse. So many parts of their existing exhibits were worn out or missing — even the temporary exhibits that were there just a few months. I NEVER saw staff wandering around to exert some kind of social control. It was as if the only paid staff was working the admissions desk. Compare this to the fantastic children’s museum in South Norwalk CT, which has a staff member about every 15 feet. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum needs funding for staff and maintanence far more than it needs new facilities.
This is great news. I have recently been to the children’s museum in Pittsburgh and Providence which are amazing. It boggled my mind that these cities have these stunning children’s museums while those in NYC are subpar at best. It’s about time we got a decent one in Brooklyn, aka children central.
11:29…I have to agree with you. Sometimes we have to look at things from a child’s perspective and my kids love it and can’t wait for it to open.
Very Oscar Mayer. The kids will dig this place.
Perfect example of your chemical Imbalance 11:06