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June 5, 2009
Atlantic Yards Nets Arena: From "World Class" to Provincial Crass
Gothamist
by John Del Signore
The Conseco Fieldhouse, er, new Barclays Center, is not dazzling the folks over at Gothamist.
So redesign it they did, if by redesign you mean a banal homage to any number of unremarkable "field house" arenas across America; places where you can watch college ball, check out weekend flea markets, and sometimes see Ice Capades. But that last diversion won't even be an option for New Yorkers, because unlike Gehry's design, the Ellerbe Becket reboot doesn't include a rink. Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with a modest, utilitarian hangar like this, but after all Ratner's talk about Gehry's "world class" designs, and all the legal battles and controversy and threats, this is best they could come up with for Brooklyn?
It's tempting to call it a joke, but it's on taxpayers and Brooklyn residents and businesses the city has been trying to relocate for years. In a press release announcing the new design, Ratner blames opposition groups for delaying this boondoggle for so long that the "slowing economy" finally made the more ambitious designs untenable. Develop Don't Destroy, the developer's main foe, fires back, and sees the whole debacle as a bait and switch:
[Forest City Ratner] should blame themselves for their arena going from really bad to worse... Here's our explanation: Forest City Ratner's reckless incompetency as a mega-developer, leading to an inability to manage costs. Because if incompetency is not the reason, then it is very likely that Ratner never intended to construct a Gehry-designed arena, but rather used the starchitect for publicity to gain respect and applause from cultural critics and media elites, and get the project approved. And then, throw the Gehry design under the bus.
Posted by eric at June 5, 2009 1:04 PM