The shell for Jean Nouvel's new Vision Machine continues to rise on Eleventh Avenue, and it has now reached the top of its neighbor to the north. That one is an 8-story deco-adorned pile of bricks better known as the Bayview Correctional Facility, and it houses a hundred or so of our less-fortunate female citizens. Some folks might not be aware that this medium security prison sits cheek by jowl with Jean's vision in glass, whose glitzy condos will soon tower above Bayview's roof-top "recreation" areas where both inmates and staff go to smoke a cig, smell the flowers and enjoy the views of the High Line and Chelsea Piers. But apparently somebody has taken notice. Perhaps the proximity of money and misery made them nervous and so they ordered up a whole new set of bars and cages. Or maybe it's just time for a bit of remodeling, now that the neighborhood is getting so posh. Either way, this is yet another example of what makes NYC so great: citizens of all stripes living close and getting along. And how grand it is to see that Knox Martin's mural "Venus" hasn't been fully eclipsed and can still be seen where Nouvel's fantastic Vision meets the reality of Bayview Correctional. A bit of new and old side by side, and both the better for it.
· Jean Nouvel's Vision Rises on West 19th Street [Curbed]
· Will Nouvel's 100 Eleventh Eclipse Venus? [Curbed]
· Bayview prison:A Chelsea neighbor often unnoticed [Chelsea Now]
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