paul_viapiano_guitarist
music, technology & life in pasadena, california
Yo Frank! Get Outta My Neighborhood!
People who know me aren’t surprised that I’d be interested in architect Frank Gehry’s latest urban project, just unveiled a few days ago in Brooklyn. Having documented the construction of Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles and actually getting a chance to talk with the architect himself was a real treat and a fun long-term personal project.
The proposed plan includes a new 19,000-seat arena for the Brooklyn Nets basketball team surrounded by a 21-acre parcel consisting of 17 buildings, many of them huge high-rise towers of up to 60 stories. 6,000 housing units are also incorporated into the plan. This project is a huge undertaking for the 76-year-old Gehry and probably the largest of his career.
From the photos I’ve seen, the Gehry touch is evident but without knowing the area, I can’t begin to make any judgement about the implications for the site. On a 2003 trip to Brooklyn with the LA Philharmonic to premiere John Adams’ El Nino, I didn’t have time to get a feel for the neighborhood, which borders the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
However, there’s a huge outcry over the project and the criticism is mounting after this week’s announcement. Whenever gentrification occurs there’s always protest. The displacement of families, businesses and neighborhood “character” is always a cause for concern, and last week’s Supreme Court ruling regarding “eminent domain” urgently brings these issues front and center. Even before the Court’s ruling, this January 2004 article from the NY Times was already raising concerns. I’ll be following this story as it unfolds precisely because it pushes all the hot buttons concerning many cities today.
Adaptive reuse/revitalization and historical preservation projects always confront the “big picture” moral issues, weighing the advantages and the disadvantages. Here in Pasadena, the revitalization of the city center, Old Town Pasadena, has breathed new life into the core of the city. Historic buildings, rich with the architecture of an earlier time, have been transformed into shops, restaurants and bookstores, creating a human-scale pedestrian-friendly outdoor alternative to ugly and wasteful big-box shopping malls.
Urban and political issues aside, from a purely design point of view, I like what I’ve seen and read so far. I’ve always thought that Frank Gehry’s architectural vocabulary spins a fresh take on a profession that is so often mired in mediocrity. His style seems to be either loved or hated. There’s no middle ground. I even hesitate in calling it a style, since that implies fashion, and nothing could be farther from the truth when evaluating this particular architect’s designs. “Vocabulary” is a much better term in this case. However, once you’ve stood next to and inside one of his buildings and felt its presence and impact on its surroundings, you realize just how good “good” architecture can be. Believe me, I’ve heard all the arguments about the Hope, First and Second Street sides of WDCH, but you don’t want to get me started with a discussion of the Music Center, the new Our Lady of Angels cathedral or a multitude of other downtown buildings in which the same argument can be foisted.
If only the leaders of the Grand Avenue Project in Los Angeles would let Frank Gehry finish realizing his vision for Bunker Hill, instead of soliciting plans from shopping mall developers (I’m not kidding!), maybe the city could finally start to shed its image as the cultural and consumerist wasteland of the West.