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September 13, 2009
Nets Dailys On Arena Renderings and Bloomberg Support
Nets Daily
NetsDaily Off-Season Report #22
Neticome, the author of the Nets Daily, does a rundown of the recently released renderings for the proposed Nets arena.
Wondering why you haven’t seen images of Barclays Center? Did you miss them when the exteriors were released?
Wonder no more. There have been no architects’ renderings of the arena interior since Bruce Ratner switched from Frank Gehry to Ellerbe Becket and SHoP. In fact, all the renderings so far have come from the “hot” little New York firm, not the Kansas City specialists in arenas and stadiums. Of course, Ellerbe Becket is the interiors expert, having designed 16 NBA and NHL arenas while SHoP is known for its exotic exteriors, often of textured surfaces and has done no arena work. It’s possible we’ll see the interiors Monday at a public information session featuring the new designs and the architects.
And for those adventurous enough to travel across two rivers, the design and model will be available for public viewing at the Brooklyn Borough Hall, starting Monday. They can be seen starting 10 a.m. Monday at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St., between Adams and Court streets in Downtown Brooklyn. (Jay Street – Borough Hall subway stop on the A, C and F lines). The public information session is at 6 p.m. Monday. Expect the usual raucous crowd of union construction workers and project critics, who have almost come to blows in the past.
Take a read of the entry for the entire list of what NetIncome considers significant. Some observations are are straightforward enough such as a summary of the dimensions of the arena:
–There has a lot of talk of how intimate the new design would make the Barclays Center feel, but in reality, Barclays Center would be about 30% larger than the IZOD Center. Square footage at the Barclays would be 675,000 square feet, compared to 465,000 at the IZOD. That is significantly smaller than both the original 850,000 square feet design and Prudential Center. Of course, a lot of that extra space would go into the 100 suites (of various sizes), down from the original 130…and hopefully additional concourse space. On the other hand, Barclays will not be built with hockey in mind, permitting a lot closer view of the court.
Other notes give a hint of being perhaps too worshipful, like noting this "design feature" which sounds like an overwrought way of saying "at night, the lights for the arena are turned and so you can see through the windows."
–A little noted design feature as described by Greg Pasquarelli, lead architect on the project for SHoP, in a conversation with curbed.com: “The building will change from day to night. Literally, the skin is responding to the program inside. It becomes more transparent when it needs to be, with lightness and form embedded in it. The skin [of the building] sits several feet away from the weather enclosure of the stadium. At night, when lit from inside, it will glow. In day, it switches, and the slots become the dark shadows… Usually, with arenas, you get this taught skin on the outside, but here it’s punctures. I don’t want to be cheesy and say it’s like brownstones with their punctured windows, but it is.”
Bloomberg, Forest City Still Commited to Barclays Center
This entry notes he continued support of Mike Bloomberg and, not surprisingly, the developer of the proposed Atlantic Yards project.
In New York and Cleveland, two key supporters of Barclays Center said Friday they’re willing to commit political and financial resources to the arena, pledging to get it done this year.
Included is this blooper in which the Mayor tries to compare the benefits of a private project to those of two of New York's great public spaces:
“I don’t know what the IBO studies would have shown back when they tried to establish the value of Central Park or Prospect Park or anything else,” Mayor Bloomberg told reporters. “These are the kinds of projects you have to do because without that we don’t have a future, and we’re going to get this one done.
Posted by steve at September 13, 2009 7:20 AM