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March 10, 2010
‘Childs’ play: Bruce may be bringing in top architects to work on Yards
The Brooklyn Paper
by Gersh Kuntzman
Where have we heard this one before?
Developer Bruce Ratner appears to be bringing in an all-star team to Atlantic Yards — and we’re not talking about his pathetic Brooklyn-bound New Jersey Nets.
Legendary architect David Childs — the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill emeritus who was the lead designer of the so-called Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site — told The Brooklyn Paper that he met with Ratner earlier in the year to give the developer’s arena plans a “once over.”
...“First, he brought me in to look at the arena design, which I think is very good now,” Childs said, referring to the current design collaboration between Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects.
Very good? Childs must have a hankering for a pressed sandwich.
“And then we talked about working together on the residential buildings,” added Childs, who was celebrating the opening of his firm’s signature Brooklyn building, the 38-story Toren tower on Flatbush Avenue.
“Bruce wants to bring in different architects, good architects, to do each of the residential buildings,” Childs said. “That’s something I’d be very excited about. Talking to Bruce, it’s clear that he wants to do this right. He really does.”
Wasn't hiring starchitect Frank Gehry Ratner's attempt "to do this right?" This is deja vu all over again.
Childs added that he was comforted by his chat with Ratner, given that the developer has a torturous history with architects. Before hiring Frank Gehry to design the Atlantic Yards mini-city, Ratner’s work in Brooklyn — such as the Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Center malls — was pedestrian at best.
Gehry promised to change all that, but last year, he was fired by Ratner in a cost-saving move.
NoLandGrab: To quote a great American philosopher, "fool me once....
Posted by eric at March 10, 2010 10:23 AM