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August 27, 2012
Barclays Facade Not Winning Over Neighbors, Also May Drip On You
Passersby believe the facade looks unfinished, and a closer look at other buildings that utilize weathered steel shows some instances of rust drippage.
Park Slope Patch
by Jamie Schuh
The rusty finish of the Barclays Center façade may have its fans in the architecture and design world, but neighbors wonder if the aesthetics may be lacking, says the New York Times.
Passersby interviewed for the paper about the façade thought it looked unfinished, with one man believing that it was going to be painted over.
In fact, a Patch poll from March found that 66 percent of readers thought the arena was an eyesore, with only 30 percent thinking the façade looked “21st century,” and three percent not sure.
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Barclays Center's rusted steel cladding draws mixed reactions, but that's just a partial way to evaluate arena (what about urbanism, and the project's promises?)
And one [commenter] takes aim at the Times's casual summary that, "After years of building, and even more years of bickering, the arena is almost finished":
Years of bickering? When you write promotional material for Bruce Ratner (where are the jobs, Bruce, and the affordable housing?), which highlights the virtues of rusting iron, at least have the decency to describe the years of community oppostion and lawsuits - the human element - as civic protest, not bickering. Why the Times chooses to write about rust, and not the impact of Bruce's ripoff on Brooklyn, is the real story here. A sad state of affairs.
I tried to post a comment pointing to my coverage of affordable housing today, but it hasn't been posted. (Somehow I haven't had any luck at all in the past week or so posting comments at the Times. Almost enough to make one a little paranoid.)
Posted by eric at August 27, 2012 9:04 PM