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July 16, 2011
Ratner gets sports magazine to agree that latest version of arena may be country's best
Atlantic Yards Report
The arena promotion continues. SportsPro Magazine, in its July 2011 The Next special report on stadiums & venues, declares the Barclays Center one of the top ten over the next decade.
“I honestly believe,” says New Jersey Nets minority owner Bruce Ratner, “that in America we do sometimes build an arena with some semblance of architectural taste, and architecturally it’s great.”
Few would disagree with such an appraisal of the forthcoming Barclays Center, future home of the Brooklyn Nets. Its designers at the award-winning SHoP architecture firm have presented what might be the most ambitious and aesthetically pleasing indoor arena ever constructed in the United States. Their assured touch, says Ratner, is apparent “in and out” of the venue.
Except that's what Ratner would have said about the original design by Frank Gehry, whom he once said "is for me an idol."
As noted, the arena itself is by Ellerbe Becket, and thus a cousin to that firm's many NBA arenas, such as the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The "facade" is by SHoP.
Posted by steve at July 16, 2011 4:57 PM