Starchitect Frank Gehry will return to the borough where he proposed his most ambitious design — and which became his greatest failure — next week.
In one of his first public appearances since he was fired by Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner in 2009, Gehry will speak at the Pratt Institute on Nov. 10.
Gehry will converse with Julie Iovine, the executive editor of The Architect’s Newspaper, the publication that he famously told in 2009, “The Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn—I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
It is happening, though not with Gehry. The Barclays Center arena, and perhaps the larger, still stalled project, is now being designed by SHoP Architects.
Meanwhile, Gehry has completed his tower at 8 Spruce St. in Manhattan, a neighboring city. That building was also developed by Ratner (they’re still friends, after all).
Ironically, the press release for the event featuring the architect lists the Barclays Center as one of his “recent projects,” though the current design bears little resemblance to the original.
The one significant idea from Gehry’s design that appears to remain part of the Barclays Center design is the “Urban Room,” an 80-foot glass-walled atrium that will serve as the base of a skyscraper at the front of the arena, as well as a public space.
Frank Gehry at Pratt Institute Memorial Hall [200 Willoughby St. between Classon and Washington avenues, (718) 636-3514], Nov. 10 at 3 pm.
