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August 15, 2007
Urban Planning Fan Kent Barwick Channels Jane Jacobs
Kent Barwick will step down next year as president of the Municipal Art Society. But he’s got ideas now about Atlantic Yards, Moynihan Station, the Chelsea Hotel and what could’ve been had Mae West visited the Pussycat Lounge
The NY Observer
By Chris Shott
Outgoing head of the Municipal Art Society, Kent Barwick, shares his thoughts on Frank Gehry and Atlantic Yards:
Last week, you joined several Brooklyn officials in calling for a new government entity to oversee the planned mega-development at Atlantic Yards. MAS obviously advocates for “excellence in urban design.” What do you have against Frank Gehry?
The sketches I’ve seen for the arena and the interior of the arena, I think that they’ll look striking. I think Ms. Brooklyn is out of scale, unnecessarily, and the way that that collection of buildings is massed, that it needlessly cuts off a significant vista. You know, most of that section of Brooklyn is used to seeing the Williamsburgh Savings Bank.
Atlantic Yards was conceived only from the point of view of the needs of the developer. Frank Gehry is a fine architect. Given the right set of directions and constraints, I think he probably could’ve delivered a great project. That may still happen.
Posted by lumi at August 15, 2007 6:20 AM