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October 5, 2007
RIP, Mr. Muschamp (AY="Garden of Eden")
Atlantic Yards Report
Atlantic Yards watchdogs will remember the quote by the late Herbert Muschamp, from the project's media debut in The New York Times, "A garden of eden grows in Brooklyn," which made a great tag line for Forest City Ratner's first flier (click to enlarge) and gave project critics their first reason to cancel their subscriptions.
Former New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp, who died Tuesday, "was governed by passion," wrote Times colleague Verlyn Klinkenborg in an affectionate editorial appraisal, citing "a passion for passion itself... I think he also had a passion for equity — moral, social and aesthetic."
Ok, but there's more. He seemed most of all concerned with the esthetic experience of a building, often decontextualized. By ignoring “the experience most people have,” Muschamp “helped create the world of starchitects,” commented the Boston Globe's Robert Campbell at a May 2006 panel.
Indeed, as I wrote, Muschamp's 12/10/03 review of Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards design was an unqualified--and unreflective--rave, offering no reflection on the impact of development.
Posted by lumi at October 5, 2007 11:56 AM