Among Atlantic Yards supporters?they're out there, right??one highlight of Frank Gehry's original design was the way the Barclays Center arena would fit in with four new towers going up right around it, including the project's centerpiece skyscraper, dubbed Miss Brooklyn. Miss Brooklyn later downsized to B1 and then vanished altogether (the new Barclays Center designs show a big pedestrian plaza at the Flatbush and Atlantic intersection), but here's a crazy thought: What happens if the economy improves? Then it's hello B1 and goodbye plaza! Don't call it a comeback?
In an interview with the Observer, SHoP's Greg Pasquarelli said the firm was "told to design a building that can stand on its own, for the short term, and a design that clearly doesn't have anything that can obstruct the rest of the plan." At a public flogging discussion last night to discuss the new Barclays Center design, the architects reiterated that the "grand urban gesture" of the arena entrance could one day have a big ol' tower on top of it, and they must accommodate that possibility. Of course, Gehry's design is long gone, so who would design B1 and the other border buildings? Pasquarelli says he'd love to give it a whirl, but after reading Justin Davidson's thorough dismantling of the firm's involvement in Atlantic Yards ("SHoP has hocked its reputation for the sake of a PR stratagem that seems unlikely to end in triumph."), he might reconsider. Go Nets?
· Bait and switch? Designer admits that rendering will change [BK Paper]
· Talking SHoP About Atlantic Yards [NYO]
· Atlantic Yards coverage [Curbed]
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