A proposed mixed-use development slated for a site beside the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) in New York City has BBG officials worried that the shadows created by the project’s twin 39-story towers will deprive the garden’s specimens of vital sunlight.
Gothamist reports that the brewing public battle between BBG and developers Continuum Company and Lincoln Equities reached a new level this week, as BBG debuted its Fight for Sunlight exhibition, a graphics-heavy information campaign designed to convey the magnitude of the damage that could be caused to the institution’s plants were the project to come into being. According to BBG, the garden is “one of the only places in New York City where you can see such a diverse collection of rare plants in bloom year-round.”
The 1.4 million-square-foot development is currently undergoing environmental review, according to YIMBY, and could bring 1,578 housing units to the site.
According to BBG, the shadows could particularly affect the garden’s greenhouse complex, a five-building cluster designed by Davis, Brody and Associates. In a 1988 review of the building, The New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger referred to the green-glass structures as “not unlike great glass tents, and despite their high-tech materials they have the relaxed, comfortable air.”
3 Comments
I'm less worried about the shadows than how the rendering opacity is turned down to 50% ... bad sign
Bingo. This drives me nuts. That image depicts massive structures as barely more dense and opaque than the sky and clouds. It's embarrassing, and makes it hard to take seriously anyone who purveys such graphic nonsense.
This development doesn't need to exist in the spot they are intending for it to go. The area is zoned for 11 stories and that's all it deserves.
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