Constructing a Facade Both Rugged and Rusty ... The new Barclays Center uses 12,000 separate pieces of what is called weathering steel, deliberately covered by a layer of rust, by Elizabeth A. Harris (New York Times)
At the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn, dozens of men and women in hardhats are scurrying about each day, hanging this and attaching that, preparing the Barclays Center for its opening, which is now just a few weeks away. The lights have come on inside, some treetops are visible along the arena’s edge, and some bright blue signage has gone up along the building’s facade, an undulating shell of brownish steel.
After years of building, and even more years of bickering, the arena is almost finished — but this is not immediately obvious to all those who wander by.
“Is it meant to be that way, with the rust?” one woman asked, squinting at the steel.
“I thought they were going to paint it,” said a man who stopped to stare.
No, they are not.
New Albany is a state of mind … but whose? Since 2004, we’ve been observing the contemporary scene in this slowly awakening old river town. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, when will New Albany learn to tell time?
Monday, August 27, 2012
Rusty by design.
CM CeeSaw would not approve. He likes his decay to be achieved the old-fashioned way, through abject neglect, rather like Bill "Community First" Allen does over on Main Street.
We had one in Louisville, designed by Mies van der Rohe no less, until some errant folk "cleaned" it.
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