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MacGregor - 2008-08-14 15:25:11
No matter which side you fall on in the design argument, or even more specifically the Gehry argument, that is a beautifully written essay. I would tend to agree with the author. One of the most frightening public spaces I've ever been in is THE EMPIRE STATE PLAZA in Albany. I came upon it at 8 on a Monday morning for the first time. It reminded me of Hell. The photo here doesn't come close to capturing the sense of dread it evokes at ground level.
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MacGregor - 2008-08-14 15:43:14
I am not, by the way, particularly impressed by Gehry designs. I think they had their place in innocent bygone years before we knew that big for the sake of big was just environmentally and socially irresponsible. Furthermore, even his recent designs are seriously dated to the point of being aesthetically flawed. They look like a mediocre cartoonist's 1961 vision of the year 2004.
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Tim W. - 2008-08-14 17:09:55
"...the sense of dread it evokes at ground level"
You say that like it's a bad thing. I love the Empire State Plaza precisely because of that delicious sense of dread. It's like being on an abandoned dystopian science fiction movie set. I also love Gehry's buildings, although I don't advocate destruction of existing neighborhoods to house them.
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Paula - 2008-08-14 18:18:54
That plaza looks a lot like the WTC plaza, which was also kind of grim. (Granted, it's also where I used to eat my lunch during my tenure at a particularly depressing dayjob, so part of it may be that association).
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MacGregor - 2008-08-14 18:25:59
My problem with the Empire State Plaza is that it is nearly devoid of any color but gray. The entire design is very martial and does, as the author you linked to mentioned, suggest fascism. The design is not without open space, but for some reason seems airless and lightless.
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chris - 2008-08-14 22:04:01
Jane Jacobs is herself such an amazing character; she almost alone stopped the cross manhattan expressway (bye bye west village). The life and death of great cities is such a wonderfully insightful book, especially in you life in NYC.
Frank Gehry cant be all bad. He played himself in a spoof on the Simpsons (he crumples up a letter, and that is the design for the Springfield Concert Hall!
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