Don’t know about you, but this new rendition of Atlantic Yards as seen from Flatbush Avenue is a real, um, eye opener.
We will avoid the temptation to get into detailed analysis of Frank Gehry’s redesign, the mass at immediate street level, etc. As one who is not averse to Gehry (and who actually finds the buidlings striking in some respects), GL would love the structures if they were in, say, Midtown.
If the intent of the new design was to help mitigate community opposition, the early read is that it has not. In fact, the impact may be the opposite. The rendition above, showing the project as seen from Flatbush Avenue and St. Mark’s in Park Slope-Prospect Heights, may indicate why some immediate neighbors and opponents are treating the new buildings like the proverbial turds floating in the punch bowl. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn‘s Daniel Goldstein calls the new design “16 skyscrapers worth of window dressing,” comparing it to 1960s-style urban renewal with a Frank Gehry twist. To GL, calling something “urban renewal” is another way of saying, “unspeakable abomination” or “a throwback to the era when Robert Moses bulldozed neighborhoods. “
“It’s still way too big,” Goldstein says.
The press conference announcing the refried designs was noteable for excluding at least one blogger who opposes the project. (An indication of how much bloggers are irritating project backers?)
To see other renditions and assessments, go to Curbed and Atlantic Yards Report. As for this vista, well, words don’t quite it do it justice from Gowanus Lounge’s POV.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // May 11, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Um, the Ratner PR team misidentifies the intersection in their picture. That is Flatbush and PROSPECT PLACE not St. Marks. Rather telling, yes?
2 Anonymous // May 12, 2006 at 6:30 am
big is an understatement, especially given that every visual we have of the project tends to focus on the arena, and perhaps one or two adjacent buildings. what’s ALWAYS missing are the other 25 TOWERS. it’s totally out of scale, way too big, etc.
what’s worse, is how the power of ratner’s $$$ has worked within the community. i hope markowitz fries (or at least explodes) for his complicity in this….
3 Anonymous // May 14, 2006 at 3:10 pm
I predict further scalebacks. Besides the DDD opponents, the one thing that will stop Ratner dead in his tracks is the deflating condo market here in brooklyn – even in hip park slope/fort green. Co-op-condo prices are seeing drops of 15-20 percent or more in this area -and they will absolutely fall further. He simply will not be able to sell these condos. And considering his history of building crapboxes (see adjacent Atlantic Center Mall) only an idiot would buy one.