Here in New York City, architecture might as well be sausages. Not in the sense of London’s so-called “Gherkin” or “Cheesgrater,” but in the metaphorical sense that all kinds of building projects are scrapped or altered by the intense sausage-making process that is NYC planning. Stakeholders — from businesses and neighborhood coalitions to politicians and city bureaucracy, to name just a few — are often all-too-eager to snipe at projects from all angles. We saw this clustermess take center stage at the World Trade Center.
The Rose Center for Earth and Space by Ennead Architects. Image via wikipedia.org
Chicago- and now New York-based Studio Gang Architects has just been selected to design an addition to the American Museum of Natural History, but the real sausage-making is still ahead of them: the proverbial vocal opposition has already started protesting the Museum’s potential encroachment on Theodore Roosevelt Park, a small park across from Central Park. This is the first major addition to the AMNH since 2000, when the e Rose Center for Earth and Space by Ennead Architects was completed.
“We would prefer that the AMNH use the park land to further the study of natural history and redouble its commitment to conserve it,” Arlene Simon, the president of the board of Landmark West!, told the Architect’s Newspaper. It is unclear whether the plans will indeed threaten the park, but as these things go, it’s never too early to start banging pots and pans.
Michael Graves’ proposal for Whitney Museum extension. Image via archdaily.com
Jean Nouvel’s Tower Verre at MoMA. Image via observer.com
There are plenty of case studies for Gang and gang, since Michael Graves and Jean Nouvel have both had high-profile additions to museum complexes shut down — or stalled beyond belief. Graves’ controversial Whitney was famously skewered by Michael Sorkin, while Nouvel’s MoMA Tower was similarly contested by Amanda Burden.