BAM Cultural District: Full-Speed Ahead
The psychology surrounding the future of the BAM Cultural District seems to have turned positive again on the heels of last month’s appointment of Carlton Brown to develop the area’s centerpiece, a $385 million mixed-income residential tower sitting atop 40,000-quare-foot dance center. (The Times describes the tower as being composed of “five cantilevered blocks of…
The psychology surrounding the future of the BAM Cultural District seems to have turned positive again on the heels of last month’s appointment of Carlton Brown to develop the area’s centerpiece, a $385 million mixed-income residential tower sitting atop 40,000-quare-foot dance center. (The Times describes the tower as being composed of “five cantilevered blocks of apartments ranging in height from 6 to 14 floors.”) The vibe was distinctly more downbeat last Spring when plans were pulled for an Enrique Norten-designed library. The renewed momentum may have something to do with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s new leadership role in the area. (The turning point has been the administration’s putting much more emphasis on development of downtown Brooklyn, says BAM’s Harvey Lichtenstein.) Other reasons for optimism: The Hugh Hardy-designed Theatre for a New Audience at Lafayette and Ashland that’s expected to break ground in Q1 and the 30,000-square-foot public plaza that’s currently being planned for the immediate area.
Stalled Brooklyn Arts District Regains Momentum [NY Times]
BAM Cultural District: Alive If Not Exactly Kicking [Brownstoner]
What a horrible looking building! This building is cheap looking and low class. Brooklyn and BAM deserves better.
A dog’s breakfast, at best. This looks bad in rendering and will be horrendous in person. “Modern” doesn’t have to be ugly. Architecture should always value beauty over everything else. Over time the classic building in the background will continue to look far better than this new crap.
Fugly
Right the first time — Fulton.
OOPS….I mean, it’s Lafayette!
To reader 9:33…that’s not Flatbush Ave, its Fulton Street.
Wow, I like the tower. Too bad that level of design couldn’t penetrate to the black box on the (pedestrian friendly?) plaza.
that’s a lovely rendering of Flatbush Ave!
They had better be careful! Cantilevered block massed buildings can quickly look like NYC of the 70’s…it may loook okay in an artist rendering or computer generated image set into a photo of the surroundings, but built, it won’t have that wide angle, big open blue sky/sunny day aspect. It may end up a huge, hulking mass towering over the streets.
And a “plaza” sounds like a formula for a trafficked area of paving with some set in trees basically there for crowd-handling for the facility…which allows the developer to shove more floors onto the building…
The design is frankly boring. Why not, for example do something with that gray wall behind the glass cube? What about a wall of water? Might help the plaza in summer…I.M. Pei did a great job with the water feature on the National Gallery in D.C. ‘Course, that was expensive. NYC development rarely includes any thought of including water…
Sad…