Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards Design Reimagined

Brooklyn’s 22-acre Atlantic Yards project, which will eventually be home to the New Jersey Nets, has no doubt been a work in progress. Last year, developer Bruce Ratner replaced starchitect Frank Gehry with Ellerbe Becket, a firm famous for its standard stadium designs. Becket’s nondescript proposal, however, dulled in comparison to Gehry’s more elaborate plan, leading Ratner to replace him with Shop Architects, a younger New York firm. On Wednesday, Shop revealed their plan for the project, which includes some of Gehry’s original design, such as open views from the sidewalks into the arena, but adds their own touches as well. The firm went with a rust-colored steel shell for the structure, resembling worn snakeskin perforated with small holes through which light will shine at night. Shop’s plan also includes the grand glass windows Gehry had included, allowing passersby to peer directly through the stadium’s lobby at the scoreboard suspended above the basketball court. That is, if the complex is ever completed to for anyone take that look.