April 24, 2007
BAM Library Project Stalled?
A story in this week's Crain's suggests that the Visual and Performing Arts Library planned for the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene may never materialize due to lack of funding. The story ("Library Project in Doubt," p6) is based on an anonymous source, described as "an insider at the Brooklyn Public Library." Unfortunately we cannot post the link because Crain's requires a subscription.
According to Crain's, "The source says that library executives have given up trying to raise funds for the $135 million Enrique Norten-designed building, which was announced with great fanfare in 2002 and was originally slated to be completed this year.... At this point, the project will be saved only if a partner comes along to finance the building." There is no new information about the planned adjacent theater, dance studio, residential tower, and public plaza, which together with the library were said to cost around $650 million.
Mum's the word from the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, which has helped coordinate planning of the emerging cultural district. On January 30, 2007, the Post ran an article that anticipated the flowering of Brooklyn's "new Left Bank" as an artistic mecca. However, the Visual and Performing Arts Library was listed as "currently on hold until a new executive director is named for the Brooklyn Public Library." Dionne Mack Harvin was appointed Director in March, but will she be able to push the project forward? Stay tuned.
More: Gothamist - BAM Cultural District: Another Day, Another Plan, Brooklyn Public Library - Breaking New Ground.
Images courtesy Enrique Norten (Ten Arquitectos) and Brooklyn Public Library.
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Ummm... should someone point to the $205 million of city money that Bloomberg earmarked for the Atlantic Yards development across the street?
exactly. bloomberg and the city can aid in the profits to benefit one man, but balks at the prospect to aid in an effort to benefit the whole community. what a crock!!!
Good. That thing is a monstrosity. Aren't there any designers out there that actually use masonry work in their designs anymore? It seems everyone wants to leave their mark by shitting out some kind of whacked out piece of glass and steel...an absolutely horrid trend!
This city was known for its brickwork and stonework way back when..I think we should get back to that.
I mean, look at the picture, it looks totally out of place in front of Brooklyn Borough hall. C'mon now..
Great news. I've had enough of the socialism & their souless architecture.
"I mean, look at the picture, it looks totally out of place in front of Brooklyn Borough hall. C'mon now."
Actually it's the Williamsburg Savings Bank Building, but nonetheless I agree with your opinion completely.
It's ironic that any critic of the modernist paradigm (or dogma) in art/architecture is nowadays considered a maverick.
The building (rendering) is beautiful and you're nutso - that depressing stretch of Flatbush Ave needs some seriously energizing architecture, not backwards-looking fake pomp-and-circumstance retro brick shit. And I second the points about gov't subsidies for Atlantic Yards, except I think it's more than $200 mil at this point. Didn't the figure get raised yet again?