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August 29, 2012
The Nets’ Billion-Dollar New Arena Is Coated With Rusty Metal, And It’s Ugly
SportsGrid
by Glenn Davis
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The Barclays Center, home-to-be of the Brooklyn Nets, was a controversial building before it even was a building. That’s because it was a centerpiece of the controversial Atlantic Yards project, which involved developer/former Nets majority owner Bruce Ratner getting New York State to condemn several acres’ worth of (occupied) Brooklyn real estate so he could develop it for his own purposes – including building the Barclays Center, and relocating the Nets from New Jersey to play in it.
...But just because the Barclays Center is allowed to exist does’t mean the controversy surrounding the building itself is over. No, now that it’s up, people are starting to ask the question: why’s it all rusted?
...I’m not an architect, granted. But come on: that looks like shit.
Related coverage...
Field of Schemes, Nets arena’s rusted steel facade could crumble, drip orange goo everywhere
Of course, it’s also butt-ugly — one Deadspin commenter calls the arena’s look “a giant, Brutalist version of a novelty dog turd.” And as the Times acknowledges, it has a tendency to drip orange rust all over the sidewalk. No wonder everybody wants to buy property near there!
You’d almost think that this whole rusted-steel look was thrown together over a holiday weekend because the previous designs were either too expensive or critically panned. Nah, that could never happen.
Bleacher Report, Barclays Center Rust: Rounding Up Reactions to Brooklyn Nets' Rustic Arena
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill], What Do You Think of the Barclays Center’s Rusty Facade?
Posted by eric at August 29, 2012 1:52 PM