Nicolai Ouroussoff

• Paul Goldberger calls Frank Gehry's new West Side Highway building "serene," "swooping" and "daring." The critic forgot the adjectives "frosty" and "hideous" because he was saving his ire for Mr. Gehry's Atlantic Yards plan. But even at his bitchiest--he says the development isn't "palatable"-- Goldberger remembers his manners. (New Yorker)
• Speaking of manners, Nicolai Ouroussoff gives a full-body massage to Lord Norman Foster's "bold" plan for a 30-story residential tower atop 980 Madison Avenue. Doesn't that rendering look "ingenious"? (NY Times)
• Let's party with city schools like it's 1979! NYC has granted the World-Wide Group a 75-year lease of 1.5 acres at East 57th and Second Avenue--in exchange for a whole lot of dirty work. WWG will raze the two public schools there, replace them with two bigger ones, then develop a 59-story apartment building and plus four wide stories of retail space. (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is designing the tower, which helps make the deal a "win-win.") (NY Sun)
• bartha bartha, coming to a television near you. (Curbed)
• Do New York communities have a genuine say in big-business development? They do in the Bronx: Proposals for developing the kingly Kingsbridge Armory will be "responding to an outline shaped by community organizing and people power." People power is big, and so is the armory--it's 575,000 square feet. (City Limits)
- Max Abelson  read more »
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• The Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff pens a 1150-word love letter to Norman Foster's steely new Hearst Tower. The "muscular symbol" is viewed as "slamming through the malaise like a hammer," and of course it is "another sign that the city's energy is reviving." (And that's just the first 400 words). (New York Times)
• The Pratt Center for Community Development accuses the Pataki administration of cutting housing funding, and steering bond money to Republican campaign donors. So instead of affordable housing, New York has apparently been giving money to sleazy luxury developers. We say it's trickle down real estate! (AP, via New York Post)
• The New York Comptroller's big new study reveals that Queens property values have risen more than in any other borough (besides, of course, Manhattan). "The bad news is that housing is less affordable"--and that "the borough had the slowest rate of job growth" in the city, and that "Queens residents had the longest work commute in the country." (Crain's)
• Elad Properties, whose karma is already suffering because of its Plaza hotel/condo project, is turning a 19th-century Chelsea department store into luxury condominiums. Now debris from the Chelsea construction has damaged one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in New York, the final home of American Revolution Jewish soldiers. Does this mean Elad is permanently cursed? (The New York Times)
• Get your weekend home, August family vacationing and caviar all in one place: scenic Brighton Beach! It's just a "breezy half-hour drive," though Curbed mocks Brighton's "Brezhnev Era chic by the sea." (New York Daily News) (Curbed)
- Max Abelson
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This weekend's New York Times magazine is all about architecture. It's definitely thinner than the big real estate special issue (although there are still plenty of ads, including a seven-page spread for the Frank Gehry jewelry collection).

All the big guns were pulled out for this one: Michael Kimmelman (Turbulence House), Nicolai Ouroussoff (Beirut architecture), and Devan Sudjic (architectural debate). And there's lots more.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

On Saturday afternoon, architect Frank Gehry and New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff discussed architecture (and much more) before a sold-out audience at the CUNY Graduate Center, part of the newspaper’s Arts & Leisure Weekend.

For a while, the conversation glided effortlessly through Mr. Gehry’s oeuvre, complete with an introductory slideshow of renowned works--from the Guggenheim Bilbao to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

But then Mr. Ouroussoff turned his attention to Mr. Gehry’s controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. The negative reaction should not have been too surprising: Some bitter residents wore antagonistic t-shirts and stickers condemning the project (i.e. “Welcome to Ratnerville”). Also in attendance, blogger Norman Oder--a critic of both the development and the New York Times coverage--reported in depth on some of the project’s specifics that the architect tried to address.

A self-professed “do-gooder, lefty type,” Mr. Gehry spoke of the future Nets arena and, and shockingly blurted out, “First of all, it’s an empty site.” A handful of jeers followed. Admitting he was getting into “deep shit,” Mr. Gehry switched gears and said that the project will be built in an “existing neighborhood.” Pleading his case, Mr. Gehry emphasized trying to “break down the scale” of the massive development, using various materials, and dealing with residential concerns that could arise with a basketball arena nearby.

“If a guy comes home from work and he wants to cool out, he’s not barraged by imagery and bright lights,” he said.

Next, Mr. Ouroussoff brought up other less-controversial topics, but the table was set for a rowdy Q&A period, where four critics of developer Bruce Ratner’s project hurled questions at the 76-old architect. Mr. Gehry said that the developer was “politically like me,” and “if it got out of whack with my own principles, I would walk away.”

But that didn’t appease everyone.

First, a Brooklyn architect aficionado accused Mr. Gehry of operating in a “non-Jane Jacobs” manner, with superblocks destroying the “existing neighborhood.” When asked what he would build instead, the questioner ventured into a lengthy explanation that irritated some audience members who had sought a mild-mannered, 92nd Street Y sort of affair. Or at least one where the celebrity speaker gives detailed thoughts on architecture, rather than an unknown audience member.

Next, Peter Krashes, President of the Dean Street Block Association, brought up the Atlantic Yards. (Afterwards, Mr. Krashes confronted Mr. Gehry while signing autographs. Mr. Gehry said he would meet with the community group only after first getting clearance from Jim Stuckey, Vice President of Forest City Ratner).

During the Q&A, Mr. Krashes asked several uncomfortable questions. Not surprisingly, Mr. Gehry’s genial manner abruptly changed.

“It’s not fair to nail me on this here,” he exclaimed. “Let’s do it another time.” The audience, who each dropped $35 a head to hear Mr. Gehry speak, began clapping loudly and consistently, until Mr. Krashes finally sat back down. The fourth (and final) question about Atlantic Yards mentioned “eminent domain abuse,” effectively closing the subject.

“No comment,” said Mr. Gehry tersely.

Noticeably upset, Mr. Gehry even asked Mr. Ouroussoff at one point if they were almost done with the entire discussion. Finally, the architecture critic ended the unpleasant ordeal, and Mr. Gehry quickly exited the stage.

If only the audience could have stuck to simple questions, like advice to a young architect, being a guest on The Simpsons or hanging out with Brad Pitt.  read more »

-Michael Calderone

In an October speech that Bruce Ratner opponents have just unearthed, architect Frank Gehry told a Columbia University audience that he had tried to convince the developer to scale down the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, to no avail. More recently, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff suggested that the project may indeed be too big for the 76-year-old master—who has done a lot of buildings but never a minor city--to handle. -Matthew Schuerman  read more »

There is something quaintly proletarian about the idea of a group of investment bankers living right  read more »