Poetic Bloomberg archicritic James Russell has turned his attention to New York University, outlining how the school's past growth and present expansion plan have adversely affected the surrounding neighborhoodarchitecturally speaking and otherwise. Because every one of his pieces is way more fun when presented in free verse, here are a couple of his most choice zingers, stanza by stanza.
There's the menacing red bulk of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library...
the misnamed Kimmel Center for University Life (2003),
slapped together from lumps of cream stone, green metal and glass.
Warren Weaver Hall is a moldy brick behemoth that even
1970s sentimentalists can't love.
Everywhere, sad little flowerbeds struggle
imprisoned in layers of superfluous sagging fencing.
Dumpsters heedlessly overflow onto the cracked sidewalks.
A neglected concrete "playground" is
padlocked.
· NYU Blights Village With Dumpsters, Fencing, Concrete [Bloomberg]
· Rhyme Time With James Russell archive [Curbed]
Top photo via Curbed Photo Pool/Joel Raskin
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