"That schism dates from the 1960's, when the activist Jane Jacobs challenged Moses' megalomaniacal plans, but it has little relevance today. For architects like Mr. Pasquarelli, the suburban promise embodied in Moses' freeway and park projects represent, for better or worse, a part of our collective memory. Their task, as they see it, is to salvage the corners of unexpected beauty from those childhood landscapes and give them new meaning. It is an approach that is far more relevant to contemporary life than Jacobs's - and every bit as humane." Nicolai's assesment (w/images) of plans for the East riverfront by SHoP, Ken Smith and R. Rogers. Prev... 1, 2, 3, 4.
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I wonder if this should reopen a great discussion on Jane Jacobs' then ideal urban view (and very cherished till today) and from which the design development's pursuit detaches. Is it finally ok to critique her work without being labelled as "anti-urban" and "anti-humanist"? Is Jacobs' ideal city, once lost, no longer valid (or ever so) for the zeitgeist of urban design today?
Dr. NO:
"The plan shows how a series of small interventions, when thoughtfully conceived, can have a more meaningful impact on daily life than an unwieldy urban development scheme."
"That same surgical approach is used to stitch the project into the surrounding communities."
The appraoches that Ouroussoff praises seem very Jacobs-like, and seem to echo her criticism of large-scale land clearance schemes.
more to the point... does anyone really think that any amount of surgery on a median strip with wizzing traffic next to it can become a park with people doing capoeira on it ? People drinking lattes in the dark shadow of the fdr on a cloudy day?
People are already using the Pike/Allen median and the space under the FDR without amenities... let's take your 'grand vision' Javier and put it up against 120 meetings within the span of a year and see how it fairs... oh, my mistake, you're a critic, leave the vision stuff to the people that can get it done.
this looks like a job for super architect, leave it to me little jimmy olsen (aka journalist who knows nothing.) kazaam!
Steve S - To your credit, I was reading your comment and was hanging at the edge of "up," expecting that to be followed by "your ass." Yes, you could have gone much much lower than you did and you chose to not exploit your anonimity as much as you could have. Congrats for some ounces of decency left in your bank.
If you're going to get personal then don't hide behind a blank profile.
dude, you've been trying to cast a negative light on this project for whatever reason for awhile... "east river crawl" remember:
http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=P16018_0_24_0_C
(funny, you left that one out)
nothing personal friend, i'm just pointing out a tendency
with love,
Steve Sanderson
sas@shoparc.com
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