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Calatrava lost his mind

matteo

Excerpt from a press release issued by the Mayor's office today:

Emblematic of the scale and scope of the development opportunity on Governors Island, architect Santiago Calatrava has provided on a pro-bono basis (with the assistance of STV Inc. and Leitner-Poma of America) renderings and related design work for an aerial gondola that could, if constructed, provide connections between Governors Island, Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.

link, nyc.gov: VISIONARY IDEAS FOR THE REDEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNORS ISLAND


 
Feb 15, 06 7:15 pm
timpdx

Is there a bigger pic? Doesn't look half bad to me, an interesting suspended structure of some kind. Actually more "sane" than the cube thing that is supposed to go up along the East River downtown.

Feb 15, 06 7:52 pm  · 
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trace™

yeah. looks fine to me. hard to tell at that res

Feb 15, 06 7:55 pm  · 
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matteo

At a cost of $125 million build a gondola from both Manhattan and Brooklyn to the island. It would leave every four minutes and could move six-thousand people an hour.

Feb 15, 06 8:03 pm  · 
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where is the new press release?

Feb 15, 06 8:07 pm  · 
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vado retro

i wanna ride in a gonorhea!

Feb 15, 06 8:59 pm  · 
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sameolddoctor

'pro bono' - yes you bastard, do free work for the city with all the free interns slaving under you, and smaller people and firms get screwed....

Feb 15, 06 10:49 pm  · 
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driftwood

I'll give you a ride in my gonorhea, pro bono, vado!


I would pay $15 to ride on a roller coaster designed by Calatrava. I would spend $5 on his gondolas.

Feb 16, 06 1:26 am  · 
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Helsinki

the pro bono will probably change into rip-off if the project gets underway - There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Feb 16, 06 3:35 am  · 
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more like pro-bono publicity

Feb 16, 06 10:25 am  · 
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SuperBeatledud

Do you mean he's lost his mind BECAUSE it's pro-bono?

Feb 16, 06 10:33 am  · 
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pro-bono? what if the studio just photoshopped a project for the swiss alps or something?

Feb 16, 06 10:35 am  · 
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mdler

what would Bono do???

Feb 16, 06 12:23 pm  · 
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Hasselhoff
Feb 16, 06 3:37 pm  · 
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comb
"'pro bono' - yes you bastard, do free work for the city with all the free interns slaving under you, and smaller people and firms get screwed...."

anybody know whether the part about unpaid interns is true ?

if so, you might want to let aia know, because they really don't like giving design awards -- much less their Gold Medal -- to architects who use unpaid interns

Feb 16, 06 3:46 pm  · 
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rayray

he only hires the managers brother - remember that u2 tower debacle
so sorry calatrava, unless you're related to the band you're out of luck

Feb 16, 06 3:48 pm  · 
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mdler

the AIA really doesn't like doing anything

Feb 16, 06 4:11 pm  · 
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comb
mdler

- "the AIA really doesn't like doing anything" - what the heck does that mean ?

... there is a perpetual string of posts here about the abuse of unpaid interns ... the aia has a strict policy about not giving recognition to any architect who uses unpaid interns ... does your post mean you support the idea of using unpaid interns ?

Feb 16, 06 4:45 pm  · 
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trace™

I really don't think many firms would not pay anythign. And if they did, they'd be smart enought to classify it as something other than an 'employee'.

The issue should more be, are they paying minimum wages?

My guess is Calatrava is rolling in it and can afford to pay at least minimum wages. He is actually building tons of large projects, unlike firms like OMA or Lynn that barely build (although that's changing for OMA).
Or he's hiring out for the CDs, in which case it's not his concern (maybe morally, but not professionally - I hear that got some good drafters overseas!)

Feb 16, 06 6:43 pm  · 
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matteo
Feb 16, 06 8:13 pm  · 
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matteo


link to NYtimes article
Feb 16, 06 8:15 pm  · 
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upside

the little pods make it look like someones unraveled the london 'eye'.

Feb 16, 06 8:52 pm  · 
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sporadic supernova

It looks a lil' too flimsy, even by clatrava standards ..

Feb 17, 06 1:30 am  · 
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sporadic supernova

"At a cost of $125 million build a gondola from both Manhattan and Brooklyn to the island. It would leave every four minutes and could move six-thousand people an hour. "

---WOW !!!

Feb 17, 06 1:32 am  · 
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timpdx

probably a LOT cheaper than a subway tunnel, tho.

Feb 17, 06 2:36 am  · 
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aspect

u mean like a cable car system?

Jul 14, 10 1:15 am  · 
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MysteryMan

I love Calatrava...but why not just take a boat?

Jul 14, 10 11:53 pm  · 
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DSal

because then you can't make a sexy suspension structure.

Jul 15, 10 1:23 pm  · 
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Urbanist

is it true he makes his staffers address him as "maestro" in the office? somebody told me that...

Jul 16, 10 1:06 pm  · 
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Distant Unicorn

Passenger boats (ferries) are expensive. I think they range in the $30-80 million range now.

Although 6,000 people an hour is patently retarded.

The average New York ferry has a capacity of about 4,500 people. And at 15 minutes a trip, you can pick up 4 boat loads of people per hour.

That essentially gives this a capacity of about 18,000 people per hour per stop. Given that, a commercial boat has a life span of about 12-15 years.

So given 2 ferry in operation, with each making two full round trips, the cost per rider is roughly (assuming a $50,000,000 boat.... no interest, no maintenance) $0.04 at constant full capacity.

Caltrava's little gondola, on the other hand, will run a cost of about $0.08 a ride.

Jul 16, 10 1:34 pm  · 
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