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December 19, 2008
Strike Two? Not So Fast
The Architect's Newspaper Blog
By Matt Chaban
First Laurie Olin, now Frank Gehry. That was the news earlier this week when the Wall Street Journal reported that the Santa Monica-based architect had laid off “more than two dozen” staffers involved with Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project. What followed was a string of cheers predicting the troubled Brooklyn mega-development’s demise. After all, how could it go on without its signature starchitecture?
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The point is that, while the layoffs could be another possible death knell for Atlantic Yards, they could also simply be the economizing of one of many architects in dire straights at the moment. Were Gehry forced to fire some employees, why not look to the project that is on hold? In other words, there are greater forces at work here, so don’t necessarily read too much into any layoffs.That is, of course, assuming the designs are finished and ready to go and the architect and developer are still on good terms, both of which the Daily News called into question today.
NoLandGrab: Fair enough; even though developer Bruce Ratner and designer Frank Gehry are acting like the project is dead, Atlantic Yards could just be in a coma and you'd have to be a trained professional examining the actual patient to know the difference.
Posted by lumi at December 19, 2008 4:43 AM