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September 11, 2009
New Arena design for Atlantic Yards
The Brian Lehrer Show [WNYC Radio]
Architectural historian Francis Morrone and New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger joined Brain Lehrer yesterday to talk about the latest Atlantic Yards arena design.
Additional coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Architecture critics slam Markowitz for claiming arena "celebrates Brooklyn's industrial heritage"
Appearing today on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show, architecture critics Francis Morrone and Paul Goldberger gave generally positive reviews to the new Atlantic Yards arena, though they acknowledged it couldn't be judged in isolation, given the controversies about the design, funding, and viability of the project as a whole.
"It's a building that will have some meaning to some people who are not actually going into it to attend a basketball game," Goldberger said. "The question is: is liking that building enough, given the context in which it exists?"
"Considering it solely as intellectual exercise, I think it's the best of the arena designs," Morrone said. He criticized original architect Frank Gehry for saying he drew inspiration from the Brooklyn Bridge.
Goldberger acknowledged a "troubling bait-and-switch" to the process, given that Gehry was crucial to getting the project passed but then was cast aside.
..."It's a project that I would probably be behind 100 percent if Forest City Ratner were proposing to place it on the site of the Atlantic Center Mall," said Morrone, who's also a member--though it wasn't mentioned--of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Advisory Board.
"That's a great idea," assented Goldberger, architecture critic for the New Yorker.
Posted by eric at September 11, 2009 8:30 AM