Frank Gehry | The New York Observer

A Gehry Tower Rises

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:41:26 -0400

...

Frank Gehry to Improve Sightlines from Bus

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:56:42 -0400

Last week, a new construction crane appeared in the fallow pit on 42nd and 10th, and in this morning's Observer Eliot Brown explains that the Related Companies--the development company run by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross--are bucking the downturn and going ahead with a 59-story "rental/condo/hotel tower."

The base of the building--which is right by the entrance ramps for the Port Authority Bus Terminal--will consist of three Frank Gehry-designed theaters, so at least one local...

Bruce Ratner Not Helping Barclays' Bad Year

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:47:32 -0400

Yesterday, the state's development agency signed off on the latest plan for Atlantic Yards and that futuristic Barclays Center.

Two years ago, Barclays paid somewhere between $300 and $400 million dollars for what it thought would be an iconic Frank Gehry building, but that didn't quite go as planned--what with Bruce Ratner dumping Mr. Gehry sometime last winter, and then a less-than-iconic design emerging in June, before a more inventive set of renderings finally emerged...

Burdened! Jean Novel Tower Expected to Feel Planning Commish’s 200-Foot Chomp

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:18:28 -0400

Amanda Burden apparently doesn’t want to get Ratnered by MoMA.

Burned by a post-approval architect swap at Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project—the Brooklyn developer dropped Frank Gehry and his iconic basketball arena earlier this year—the chairwoman of the City Planning Commission is going to new lengths to see that she’s not the victim of a future bait-and-switch.

The first to experience this new approach are MoMA and Texas developer Hines Interests, which are planning...

Public Review of Atlantic Yards, Without the 'View' Part

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:41:02 -0400

With changes to the design and timetable, Bruce Ratner’s $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project is back in public review, complete with public meetings, public comment and a vote of the board of a public authority.

Theoretically, this month-long public comment period is meant to review the changed project. But one thing that’s absent in this re-review: renderings, or any other look at the project’s design (which one would assume has changed dramatically since the...

Anti-Gehry, Pro-Avella

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:42:04 -0400

Longshot mayoral candidate Tony Avella has the support of at least one group.

A reader sent in this photo from Carleton and Dean Streets in Prospect...

Forest City to Unveil Frank Gehry's First Manhattan Apartment Tower

Tue, 27 May 2008 16:07:43 -0400

In an effort to gin up publicity for Frank Gehry's first Manhattan residential cloud-buster, the so-called Beekman Tower, developer Forest City Ratner will unveil the design in a ceremony on Friday afternoon.

The development will be Mr. Gehry's second in Manhattan, following his wildly succesful design for the IAC headquarters on 11th Avenue.

The Beekman Tower is slated to rise 76 stories between Spruce and Beekman streets, with 903 market-rate rental apartments inside.

The 1.1 million-square-foot...

Architecture Enthusiasts Crowd Gehry Buiding for MAS Awards

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:01:14 -0400

Livable-city activists celebrated the latest, coolest additions to the city’s urban landscape on Thursday inside the stark white interior of Frank Gehry’s first building in New York City, the IAC headquarters on 11th Avenue.

The occasion was the Municipal Art Society’s 2008 MASterwork Awards, which, according to the program, “honor the year’s top projects for their excellence in architecture and urban design, and their contribution...

MIT, Skanska Gang Up on Gehry

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:50:00 -0500

Lawsuits against architects must be as plentiful as plasterboard, but when the client is Massachusetts Institute of Technolgy and the architect is Frank Gehry, well, even the Boston Globe takes notice.

MIT is saying that “deficient design services and drawings” have led to leaks, cracks, mold and a $1.5 million reconstruction of the amphitheater at the Stata Center.

Most surprisingly, the construction contractor for the...

Ratner Scrambles for Funding for Gehry-Designed Tower

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:46:39 -0400

Forest City Ratner is looking to compete for some of New York’s scarce tax-exempt bonds to finance a Frank Gehry–designed tower in lower Manhattan.

The 950-foot-tall tower, to be built on a parking lot between Spruce and Beekman streets, promises to be one of the flashiest—and most expensive—new buildings south of midtown: some 920 titanium-and-glass-clad apartments shooting up from a low-slung base just off the Brooklyn Bridge’s entrance ramps. But first,...

High Line Park Spurs Remaking Of Formerly Grotty Chelsea

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:00:00 -0400

The mission of the High Line, the future park that will rest on an elevated train platform slicing across 22 Manhattan blocks, is to slow down. The park’s designers want the experience of it to be meditative, a break from hustling urban life. But just beyond its limits—which stretch only as wide as the skinny platform, at 30 to 60 feet—there is a frenzied contrast. Up and down the High Line’s mile-and-a-half stretch, dozens...

This Guy Wants You to Love Atlantic Yards

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

"Americans are frightened of density. Europe is not.” Laurie Olin, one of the most noted landscape architects in the country, was holding forth in his firm’s library in central Philadelphia. He wants to help us get over our obsession with personal space. So Mr. Olin took on the task of designing the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. If built out to the developer’s present specifications, the five-block site at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues will...

Ratner Had Planned 8 Percent Scaleback

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:09:32 -0500

Norman Oder uncovered a little document on his blog that says volumes about the way things get built in New York: On Jan. 13 of this year, Forest City Ratner presented the Department of City Planning with four different versions of the Atlantic Yards complex, ranging from a massive 8.76 million zoning square feet, which was the publicized version at the time, to a slightly smaller 7.96-million-square-foot version. (By comparison, the Williamsburgh Bank Building...

Tuesday: Gehry & Foster, 'Law & Order', Castles & Schools

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:30:44 -0400

Stormin' Lord Norman 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...

Ratner Will Bring Us Closer Together

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 06:30:00 -0400

Our claim from July that Atlantic Yards would be the densest census tract in the country seems to be sowing some confusion, which is just as well, because we never really said that. What we said was that Atlantic Yards would be twice as dense as the densest census tract in the country, but nothing about it being its own census tract. The 22-acre project spans four census tracts, as you can see...

Gracious Hostess, Gifted Greek Go Baroque on Upper East Side

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400

This is what’s missing from so many of the restaurants I’ve been to lately: the feminine touch. Donatella Arpaia is the consummate gracious hostess. Tall and striking, with a mane of streaked blond hair, she patrols the packed white-and-yellow dining room in high heels and miniskirt, chatting with customers. An ex-attorney whose father was in the restaurant business (Scarlatti and Lello), she also owns David Burke & Donatella, where she thoughtfully provides a white...

Tuesday: Gehry's "Flimflam," Lauder's "Club," and $7b for MSG

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 04:20:00 -0400

Steves Roth and Ross have a little $7 billion plan to move Madison Square Garden a block west. And to build the Farley Post Office into Moynihan Station, of course. And to transform Pennsylvania Station by erecting a monumental glass canopy (plus 20 Corinthian columns). And to construct five towers on top of Penn Station. "We are about making money here on a grand scale," Mr. Roth admits. (A political "battle royale" The Times...

I'm Glad I Never Bought a Herman Miller Chair

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 14:54:17 -0400

There was a year or two that I wanted one, and didn't spring for it, and a good thing too. Now they're everywhere. This one stared me down in my room at the Wyndham Hotel chain this weekend. Didn't buy a Frank Gehry building...

Atlantic Yards Romp

Tue, 16 May 2006 05:38:19 -0400

James Gardner in today's Sun says, "My sympathies incline slightly toward the builders," but belittles Frank Gehry's design for Atlantic Yards anyway, seeing in the skyscrapers allusions to 1930s architecture that are unsuccessfully translated into the modern day. Meanwhile, Jim Stuckey and Daniel Goldstein go at it on The Brian Lehrer Show. -Matthew...

The Morning Read: May 12, 2006

Fri, 12 May 2006 03:53:17 -0400

The Times reports Richard Brodsky has dropped out of the race for Attorney General; Frank Gehry defends the Atlantic Yards project; and its Public Lives section features Kevin Keating, maker of the new documentary Giuliani Time. The Sun reports on Brian Ellner's new job. And the Post reports on the LMDC power struggle between Bloomberg and Pataki. —Nicole...

Wednesday: Now, With Two Jay-Z Mentions!

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 05:00:44 -0400

Mayor Bloomberg wants more, more, more near the WTC site. And, he's willing to shell out an equal amount for it. Developer Joseph Moinian might receive $50 million in Liberty Bonds for his hotel and condo tower. (The New York Sun) The brick layers and asbestos cleaners have a whole new building for themselves. (New York Daily News) The Nets wants to move to Brooklyn to make more money. Jay-Z is their inspiration, and financier....

Re-enter Gehry

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:04:00 -0500

The ultimate beneficiary of Governor Pataki’s $80 million gesture to Ground Zero seems to be Frank Gehry’s performing arts center, which had been put on the back burner because of its enormous price tag (rumored at more than $400 million). John Whitehead, the chairman of both the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, said today, “The foundation will continue its capital campaign to raise $500 million. The excess of...

Gehry Grilled in Manhattan

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:06:00 -0500

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...

Gehry Speaks Out

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:23:00 -0500

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...

Bruce Mau on Design, Rem and Not Getting Paid

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 10:25:00 -0500

Last night at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium, Parsons dean Paul Goldberger conveniently recited a line from designer Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth: “Don't be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black.” Wearing black pants and a button down shirt, Mr. Mau burst out laughing. "I know, I'm in a rut." For almost 90 minutes, Mr. Mau discussed his collaborations with architects Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry (most recently on the...

David Walentas Unplugged

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:21:00 -0400

We hadn’t thought of calling David Walentas a few weeks ago when we did a piece for the Observer on the re-emergence of superblocks at Ground Zero and Brooklyn. It turns out the King of Dumbo has some firm ideas about urban planning. When asked innocently the other day what he thought of the Atlantic Yards complex, designed by Frank Gehry and proposed by rival Forest City Ratner, Walentas delivered this treatise: “I think the...

Not Just Neighbors

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 07:25:00 -0400

All eyes will are on the Democratic primary today—visit sister site The Politiker for updates—but Bruce Ratner and Frank Gehry aren’t far behind. Several civic groups, including NYPIRG and Citizens Union criticized the MTA for not disclosing the financial projections—i.e. expected profits—that are included in Forest City Ratner’s proposal to build a 24-acre live-work-spectator complex in central Brooklyn. But wait! Is that area even safe for Gehry? The Daily Heights reports on a “car...

$1 Million a Year

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 14:21:00 -0400

A report today by the city’s Independent Budget Office found that the proposed Atlantic Yards basketball arena would net (hee-hee) the city about $1 million a year. The upshot: a little political cover for project supporters, though its opponents are claiming victory, too. In other words, what the city loses from its $100 million donation—plus some other goodies—it would make up over 30 years in sales and incomes taxes, and then a wee bit...

In Today's Paper: A Meeting In The Ladies Room

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 06:16:00 -0400

Don't miss today's story on Elizabeth Redvers, a 15-year-old model-hopeful. It's truly... wow. Of course, last night the Observer broke the news about Rupert Murdoch installing himself as publisher of the NY Post. And, in The Transom itself, the story of two dogs, one rich, one poor, and the assault that brought them together. Plus, the second item, on Citizens Band, explicates the new sincere downton cabaret. The summer reading round-up is rather fantastic: Janet Malcolm is...

Architects Live In Class Houses: Piano Vs. Gehry

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 20:00:00 -0400

When Frank Gehry abruptly pulled out of a 2000 competition to design The New York Times’ new headquarters, the paper quickly looked elsewhere. Before long, the paper splashed a design by winning architect Renzo Piano across the front page. But as Mr. Piano kept accumulating prestigious projects, The Times’ developing partner Bruce Ratner never let Mr. Gehry out of his sight.

Now, years later, Mr. Gehry is having his moment in the headlines as chief...

Architects Live In Class Houses: Piano Vs. Gehry

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 20:00:00 -0400

When Frank Gehry abruptly pulled out of a 2000 competition to design The New York Times’ new headquarters, the paper quickly looked elsewhere. Before long, the paper splashed a design by winning architect Renzo Piano across the front page. But as Mr. Piano kept accumulating prestigious projects, The Times’ developing partner Bruce Ratner never let Mr. Gehry out of his sight. Now, years later, Mr. Gehry is having his moment in the headlines as...

Look familiar?

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 06:42:00 -0400

The folks over at www.nolandgrab.com may have a point about Frank Gehry's design for downtown Brooklyn's "crystal city." UPDATE: The Gutter weighs in on what it calls nolandgrab.com's "anti-prosperity...

Gehry: Bumped Out, Again?

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 14:28:00 -0400

All those protesters who have trailed Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz over the past 18 months chanting "Not a done deal" were right. A surprise bidder, Gary Barnett’s Extell Development Corp., made an offer today (Wednesday) on the MTA’s Atlantic Yards and might bump off Frank Gehry’s Crystal City. Barnett--not to be confused with the Gary Barnett of college football infamy--joined with the Carlyle Group to buy out Donald Trump (and a whole bunch...

Fresh meat ...

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 08:02:00 -0400

... for Nets arena opponents: A New York Times survey finds that just 37 percent of New Yorkers favor the plan. (Click on "Poll Watch: New York Times/CBS News Poll" for Javascript Pop-up; see questions 73 and 74.) And, once told the development will cost $200 million in public funds, fewer than 50 percent of those yea-sayers like the idea. The Times has yet to publish these results in its pages--61 percent against, 18 percent for,...

$1.1 Billion Award Elates Silverstein, Stuns Downtown

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 19:00:00 -0500

Late on the afternoon of Dec. 7, an 11-person jury on the 21st floor of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse handed World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein a courtroom verdict that could add over $1 billion to his available rebuilding funds. And for a night at least, it seemed, the keys to the city.

Bernard Nussbaum, the head of Mr. Silverstein's 20-strong legal team and former President Bill Clinton's personal attorney during the...

The Wannabe

Sun, 05 Dec 2004 19:00:00 -0500

"I'm not very good at talking to people that I don't know, which sounds weird. I'm not really into that whole artificial-conversation thing," said Damien Fahey, 24. It was Wednesday, Nov. 17, and Mr. Fahey's 6-foot-2 frame was folded into a booth at John's Pizzeria in Hell's Kitchen, not far from his 18-by-12-foot studio apartment. He was also just a stoner's throw away from MTV Studios, where he caters to screaming young girls as...

As Muschamp Goes, Angry Adversaries Ready for Revenge

Sun, 27 Jun 2004 20:00:00 -0400

Herbert Muschamp, The New York Times ' architecture critic, is stepping down from his post much as he attained it: surrounded by applause. Twelve years ago, he was called the country's next great critic; today, his army of detractors is all too happy to see him leave.

The official line at the paper is that the 56-year-old Mr. Muschamp "wants to explore other options," which may include serving as a "global culture" columnist and writing...

Hanging Garden of Babble-On

Sun, 16 Nov 2003 19:00:00 -0500

Poor baby High Line! For the last 23 years, the disused elevated railway that rusts through West Chelsea and the meatpacking district has, in full public view, been starved near to death by its psychotically strict vegan parents. But magically, it seems now that the weedy little media darling will be taken in by some fairy godparents, fed intravenously for a spell and then bundled off to Dalton. Look out, Hudson River Park: It...

Gehry Gives Boost to Bard: Arts Center Acoustical Marvel

Sun, 04 May 2003 20:00:00 -0400

"Drop Tuition, Not FOIL" read a message scrawled on a white sheet that greeted guests at the recent opening-night gala for the new Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. The sheet was held by a small group of students, who had arranged themselves on a lawn with a splendid view of the building they had nicknamed "FOIL" in honor of its roof-a glistening metallic canopy whose floppy-fedora silhouette was...

Condé Nast's West Coast Nosh

Sun, 02 Mar 2003 19:00:00 -0500

By now everyone's heard of the Condé Nast cafeteria, soaring above 42nd Street with its jazzy Frank Gehry architecture, high-school-reminiscent seating patterns and utter embarrassment of custom-catered gourmet foods. But where does Condé Nast's not-insignificant number of West Coast editors fill their ploughman's lunch pails? It's not all Graydon at Morton's, you know.

The company occupies the 10th, 11th and 12th floors of 6300 Wilshire Boulevard, a large, Soviet-style building situated along Los Angeles' Miracle...

Can Taliban Kid Get a Book Deal? Agents Reach for 11-Foot Poles

Sun, 13 Jan 2002 19:00:00 -0500

When 20-year-old San Anselmo, Calif., native John Walker headed

to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, he presumably renounced the commercial, capitalistic impulses that have contributed to the United States' bad reputation abroad. But even before the prison ship U.S.S. Bataan unloads its notorious cargo in Cuba and the next step of Mr. Walker's fate is decided, the media is working overtime to determine if his family will turn to good old-fashioned American commercialism-in the form of a book or film deal-in...

Frank Gehry's Syndrome Makes Museums Show Biz

Sun, 06 Jan 2002 19:00:00 -0500

Why is it that announcements of new art-museum construction, which used to bring cheer to so many art lovers, are nowadays more likely to generate a feeling of suspicion and dread? Is it because we no longer have reason to believe that the creation of new museum buildings will do much to enhance our experience and understanding of art itself? I believe so. Indeed, there is often more reason to believe that the construction...

Who Invented the Big Swarovski? Bikini Wax and Crystals for $105

Sun, 10 Jun 2001 20:00:00 -0400

A few years after the Brazilian bikini wax tore through the city, New York women were ripe for a new gimmick–something extreme to justify the pain and indignity of that half-hour, totally denuding procedure. So some genius came up with the idea of arranging tiny, self-adhesive Swarovski crystals on the newly revealed expanse and charging $65 to $105 for the ordeal. And now that small hordes of would-be Carrie Bradshaws are lining up for...

Condé Nast Employees Get Their Very Own Private Restaurant

Sun, 16 Apr 2000 20:00:00 -0400

The Condé Nast cafeteria has only been open a week, but it's already clear which part is Siberia

The 10,000-square-foot, Frank Gehry-designed, track-lighted, fourth-floor space is dominated by a raised dining area enclosed by thick glass petals. The effect is slightly vaginal, accented by hanging chrome lamps which look like Fallopian tubes or sea anemones. Approximately two thirds of the restaurant's 200 diners will be eating inside this elevated region. Huddled therein on an ecru...

Guggenheim Motorcycles Drown Out a Nice Show

Sun, 19 Jul 1998 20:00:00 -0400

It may be too soon to speak of a pattern to be discerned in the exhibition program now in place at what I suppose we should call the uptown Manhattan branch of the worldwide Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, for even as I write, some new corporate sponsor or foreign cultural ministry may be in the process of commandeering all of the museum's available exhibition for some oversize future project. Judging by recent events, however,...