The main problem with this project is that it divides Park Slope and the Park from the west of the borough, Fort Greene, and Downtown.
This project is like a huge curtain wall, segregating communities. One day, the Navy Yard will be redeveloped, too, and the Slopers will be cut off from that. There is something to be said about a walkable, in-scale Brooklyn.
It is time to unite Brooklyn over the old tracks' gash, not create a mountain range on top of them.
No offense, but this project is reminiscent of 'the other side of the tracks' divisions plaguing our nation since the Civil War.
In addition, while the pictures I've seen of Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim are spectacular, he does seem to be suffering from his popularity, and his more recent projects seem to be washed out over-extensions. They just don't seem to be inspired, interesting, or good looking.
Bilbao residents don't like the museum, either, but looking at this plan it is plain: this project is too clunky, monstrous, big, bulky. The architecture itself evokes danger, as if it is about to tumble down, crushing the neighborhoods, that cool outer-borough vibe, and smaller-scaledness of Brooklyn, 'the city of gardens,' beloved.
It is time to go back to the drawing board, and get some other architects, and to break the project up with some boulevards and parks and public gathering spaces for music and play.
Think Paris of the Beaux Arts era. Heck, think the Pompidou Centre with its public gathering space. Who was that by Rodgers or Foster? Think of the Washington, D.C. of L'Enfant, Olmsted, and Burnham. I'd even take the 1809 Randel Commission dividing Manhattan (then NYC) into a grid over this BK-ATL project. At least one can walk a grid. Who did Millenium Park in Chicago?
Boot these developers and their over-extended over-hyped architects with eminent domain. This project is the great wall of Brooklyn, without the grace.
The main problem with this project is that it divides Park Slope and the Park from the west of the borough, Fort Greene, and Downtown.
This project is like a huge curtain wall, segregating communities. One day, the Navy Yard will be redeveloped, too, and the Slopers will be cut off from that. There is something to be said about a walkable, in-scale Brooklyn.
It is time to unite Brooklyn over the old tracks' gash, not create a mountain range on top of them.
No offense, but this project is reminiscent of 'the other side of the tracks' divisions plaguing our nation since the Civil War.
In addition, while the pictures I've seen of Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim are spectacular, he does seem to be suffering from his popularity, and his more recent projects seem to be washed out over-extensions. They just don't seem to be inspired, interesting, or good looking.
Bilbao residents don't like the museum, either, but looking at this plan it is plain: this project is too clunky, monstrous, big, bulky. The architecture itself evokes danger, as if it is about to tumble down, crushing the neighborhoods, that cool outer-borough vibe, and smaller-scaledness of Brooklyn, 'the city of gardens,' beloved.
It is time to go back to the drawing board, and get some other architects, and to break the project up with some boulevards and parks and public gathering spaces for music and play.
Think Paris of the Beaux Arts era. Heck, think the Pompidou Centre with its public gathering space. Who was that by Rodgers or Foster? Think of the Washington, D.C. of L'Enfant, Olmsted, and Burnham. I'd even take the 1809 Randel Commission dividing Manhattan (then NYC) into a grid over this BK-ATL project. At least one can walk a grid. Who did Millenium Park in Chicago?
Boot these developers and their over-extended over-hyped architects with eminent domain. This project is the great wall of Brooklyn, without the grace.