A Little Less Frank: The Evolving Design of Atlantic Yards
Frank Gehry is known for his easily identifiable style: big, swooping titanium and glass forms that seem to float like sails on the wind or the skirts of a dancer. Some compare his architecture to Disneyland, larger than life and a bit too whimsical. No matter how you feel about Frank, he’s managed to become one of the few architects who are household names.
Atlantic Yards. Say those two words to any resident of Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Park Slope or Downtown Brooklyn and they are likely to be met with a glare. This abandoned rail yard along Atlantic Avenue was snapped up by developer Forest City Ratner, in some instances by eminent domain, to create a mixed-use development comprised of residential towers containing units at both market rate as well as those for moderate to low income households, commercial space, and the Barclay Center, an arena for professional basketball team New Jersey Nets.
Frank Gehry. Image Credit: The First Post UK
On the surface, the amenities might sound nice; however, any large scale development makes New Yorkers, and especially Brooklynites, wary. This site presents many challenges as it is the converging point of several major roadways, the Long Island Railroad and many subway lines, though it is surrounded by established neighborhoods with quiet, brownstone-lined streets. We happen to like our distinctive, appropriately scaled neighborhoods.
Gehry was selected as the architect in charge of developing a master plan and articulating 17 buildings on the 22 acre Atlantic Yards site, including the arena. Most of Gehry’s projects are thrilling one-offs, but he he aimed to uphold the tenants of good urban design: the preservation of public space and views, contextuality and proportion. And he failed.
A redeeming quality of Gehry’s design was the treatment of the arena. Since arenas are often big, bulky and windowless, his strategy was to partially conceal it behind the residential and commercial towers. Miss Brooklyn, the biggest flirt of all the towers, was clad in a slinky glass dress. Her nickname was actually inspired by a bride that Gehry saw when he happened upon a wedding in Brooklyn. Contrary to visions of purity, pedestrians and passerby would catch a glimpse beneath Miss Brooklyn’s skirt of the hulking arena beyond, which could, at times, be dark and ominous or bursting with screaming fans. A scintillating prospect, whether or not you like Gehry’s brand.
A 2006 version of Frank Gehry’s design for Nets Arena and Atlantic Yards. Credit: Gehry & Partners
However, Gehry’s proposed bevy of towers would dwarf its context: brownstone Brooklyn. While there is another tall building nearby, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, Miss Brooklyn would be the same height and ultimately overwhelm the tapered building. The Guggenheim, Gehry’s signature building, also contrasts with its historic surroundings in Bilbao, Spain; but it arguably bridges the gap more elegantly, due in part to its sweeping horizontality. His Atlantic Yards design reeked of developer greed and would have been the largest project a single developer has ever attempted in New York City. Even Gehry admitted Miss Brooklyn was his “ego trip.”
Then the economy took a turn for the worst. Forest City Ratner asked Gehry to scale back his design and suddenly Miss Brooklyn lost some of her sex appeal. Then the decision was made to build the arena first and hold off on the residential towers, which was not popular with the nearby community and architecture critics alike. Such a move would underpin the very essence of Gehry’s scheme, stripping away public space and leaving the arena looking like the fat kid standing alone at recess.
In a surprising twist, Gehry was removed from the project in June 2009 after six years of participation. Rumors swirled of an angry Gehry walking away from a project that had become nearly unrecognizable from his original vision, or that he’d been fired for transgressions of his own. However, the truth was that Gehry’s $1 billion design had become a victim of the economy.
Forest City Ratner selected Kansas City, MO-based Ellerbe Becket, a corporate A&E firm known for its predictable but bland arena designs, to take over the Barclay Center. A non-descript rendering leaked to the press and was subsequently compared to an airplane hangar.
Image Credit: Ellerbe Becket
Perhaps in a move to save face, as the New York Observer speculated, FCR brought in hip, young Manhattan firm SHoP Architects to guide the design efforts. While they have no experience with arena design, they were able to perform CPR on the faltering arena design while cutting $200 million from the cost of Gehry’s design. SHoP did retained some of Gehry’s original concepts, including the seductive views into the arena through street-level glazing. The exterior is to be clad in a rusty, scaly latticework, tough enough for this gritty area, but soft enough to allow light to filter in during the day and emanate a glow at night.
An entrance plaza at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues is inviting, and according to SHoP’s Greg Pasquarelli, the canopy design is intended to be a “grand civic gesture onto the plaza.” The arena design is personified by a large oculus, which has garnered comparisons to a baseball cap and a panini press. Vertical setbacks along with three horizontal bands break down the mass of the building.
Image Credit: Ellerbe Becket and Shop Architects
Construction crews broke ground on the arena in mid January, however many questions remain. How will it integrate with forthcoming towers? Which architect will design them? While the Ellerbe Becket/SHoP design is acceptable as far as arenas go, later additions could render it awkward. According to the New York Times, “the brilliance of Mr. Gehry’s approach was not about the aesthetics of any particular building; it lay in the careful arrangement of diverse urban elements on a tight urban site.” And in downtown Brooklyn, “urban” is the bottom line.
>Written by d/visible contributor Murrye Bernard.
Sources: New York Times, New York Observer, eOculus, Barclays Center
