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October 5, 2007
Changes Afoot at Grand Army Plaza
NY Sun
By Francis Morrone
Brooklyn's pre-eminent artchitectural historian takes stock of big changes happening at Grand Army Plaza. In his assessment of the Richard Meier building, branded "On Prospect Park," he imagines a more suitable setting and takes a swipe at Atlantic Yards:
Mr. Meier's building might be perfect elsewhere. Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights begins with a bang at Grand Army Plaza, then, several blocks on, at Atlantic Avenue, hits the Vanderbilt Yards, where Forest City Ratner intends to build its Atlantic Yards megaproject. At Vanderbilt and Atlantic, the rather breathtaking prospect of open yards ringed by big and sometimes beautiful reinforced-concrete industrial buildings suggests, as much as does the arch in Grand Army Plaza, that a certain kind of development take place. It strikes me that Mr. Meier's building, which partakes of an aesthetic in part informed by the structural frankness of early 20th-century "daylight factories," would fit splendidly into this context — were gorgeous (and enormous) buildings such as the Ward Bakery (1913) allowed to remain. (Ward is being dismantled right now.) Instead, Forest City Ratner insists on a freak-show ensemble of towers by Frank Gehry.
[Image http://www.onprospectpark.com/]
Posted by lumi at October 5, 2007 6:43 AM