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March 19, 2011
The Prodigal Blogger Returns
Catasterist
A stint on a grand jury has given this blogger a chance to reflect on the poor design of Ratner projects.
There are a lot of interesting design issues to think about during jury duty–how it feels to be in a windowless room for the duration of a lovely spring day; mixing with defendants and witnesses and wardens in slow, awkward elevators; even the size of a temporary jury badge (too big to fit in a wallet) where my title (JUROR) and number are much larger than my name (which matters to almost no one). In addition, the New York State Supreme Court Building in Brooklyn was built by Forest City Ratner, the developer in the news lately for the Atlantic Yards fracas. Let me just say that if the design quality of this courthouse and the entire MetroTech development is any indication, I don’t have a lot of faith that the Atlantic Yards project will be a great civic center.
Posted by steve at March 19, 2011 10:05 PM