Comments on: Hugh Hardy: Architect Calls for Fresh Take on Public Life

By: dnzbilvfm

dnzbilvfm — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:14:49 +0000

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By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:07:41 +0000

Also, as others have pointed out, the site is so constrained because Atlantic and Flatbush are horrible for pedestrians. Even the most well-intentioned architect can’t create a good urban space when walking around the building is an awful experience.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:45:40 +0000

Atlantic Terminal may be a step up from Atlantic Center, but it still has more in common with a suburban mall than an “urbane” space. If I recall correctly, people can’t get into the building through individual storefronts — they have to go in through a few major entry points. The result is that circulation happens inside. In a real urban space, like, say, the Fulton Street Mall, the street retains its function as meeting ground, point of access, and pedestrian thoroughfare. At Atlantic Terminal that is mostly relegated to the regimented, privately owned interior, in much the same way that the Time Warner Center or the Manhattan Mall on 34th Street shun public space.

That said, I think the failures of Atlantic Terminal are more a reflection of Ratner’s anti-urban instincts than hypocrisy on Hardy’s part.

By: Alec Appelbaum

Alec Appelbaum — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:59:45 +0000

When I interviewed Hardy a couple years ago, he fretted about how the Hanson Place site offered skimpy sidewalk, making it hard to create awnings or plant sidewalk poppies. He did his best, he said, by lengthening the windows and cladding them in vertical trusses. So I see the Terminal as an attempt to engage pedestrian spirit in a cramped context. And it surely softens the suburban blob of Atlantic Center. What designs would create urban verve so close to the mall and the LIRR? Let’s open the atelier.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:34:19 +0000

Yeah, Alec, are you sure we can call the Atlantic Terminal “urbane?”

By: moxieb

moxieb — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:22:35 +0000

Well said!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:10:50 +0000

Good point, I’m just so aghast that at the intersection of 3 of Brooklyn’s largest arteries, its biggest train station, and its tallest building are two aesthetically deficient malls anchored with chain stores and parking ramps. Its a damned insult to the boro.

By: moxieb

moxieb — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 20:41:30 +0000

While I’m no fan of the Atlantic Terminal, it is different â€” and much more in line with Hardy’s beliefs â€” than the Atlantic Center. The two, both Ratner properties (I believe), both merge into each other. However, the Terminal (with the Target, above the train station), at least has stores that face the street and subway access. The Atlantic Center (with the Pathmark and Old Navy) has blank walls that force pedestrians to walk around a pretty isolated space to get in.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 20:35:38 +0000

While I agree with his comments, I’m perplexed, because H3′s Atlantic Terminal is the antithesis of everything he is saying. Maybe the programmatics Ratner spec’d were beyond bending, but I just have to point to what someones built, not what someone says.