Until recently I was unaware of the significance of the architectural changes occurring in Downtown Brooklyn. Currently the area occupied by the Atlantic Yards is visibly at a transitory state, there are newly demolished lots, some with naked structural elements awaiting surface, others fenced and bare juxtaposed to historically rich townhouses that have given Brooklyn its character.
On the surface the proposed plan to revitalize Downtown Brooklyn, seems impeccable; there is a promise of much need affordable housing, stimulation for local businesses, job creation, and attraction to the area, as well as relief for the overcrowding of Manhattan.
To sweeten the deal, the project is in the hands of the one of the largest developers, Bruce Ratner, who commissioned "world renowned" architect Frank Gehry to design the project. The project would be occupying a fairly small region of Brooklyn, located at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, bounded by Pacific and Dean Streets and Vanderbilt Avenue, and primarily situated over the MTA/LIRR's Vanderbilt Rail Yards. In these 22 acres of land, 17 massive structures are planned.
However, one need not delve too far to see significant flaws with the proposed plan and its architecture. The programmatic elements of this project includes a sports and entertainment arena, landscaped open space, a boutique hotel, ground-floor retail space for local businesses, office space and more than 6,400 units of "affordable", middle-income and market-rate housing. In fact, the number of truly affordable houses according to opposing groups is around 7% of the total available units. Even more disconcerting is the number of families currently being forced out of their units due to eminent domain.
The $4 billion "investment" in Brooklyn, will hurt local business, push out current affordable dwellings, dramatically increase population size, not to mention the towers would dwarf and terminally shade several neighboring regions. One can speculate that this will make it unlikely that the open space area that is incorporated in the plan will be widely used as it will be continually in the shade.
The influx of people to the area both on the account of the new housing and the arena, will increase traffic (which is already congested), despite the accessibility to the well connected MTA transportation hub. Yet a large portion of the area will be rezoned to reduce current parking availability in the area.
On a more intangible note, much of the angst which surrounds the project is rooted in the drastic change to the character of area. Gehry's architecture, while instantly recognizable, would sharply clash with the current neighborhood architecture. The proposed architecture is series of computer generated forms, devoid of any connection to the context they are placed in.
The height of the buildings range from just under 200 feet to over 500 feet. In my opinion, this aspect of the project, aside from the aforementioned ethical issues of eminent domain and gentrification, is the most damning part of the proposal. This is directly related to the major issues affecting the project.
I do believe that cities need change, adapt and grow with the people that inhabit them, and with change comes challenges that are not always easy to adjust to. Yet this does not mean that change cannot be seamless and sensitively performed. The area for the Atlantic Yards has enormous potential for development, yet it must be done in a form that gradually integrates the past with the present/future and does not inflict more harm than good to the people and businesses that make downtown their own.
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