The mention of the word “starchitect” triggers a tirade. “It suggests an egomaniac trying to flaunt his wares at the expense of the public.” NYMAG: The Unbuilding of Frank Gehry
Gehry, much like other architects, doesn’t get that it’s not that simle. It’s not that architects are willy-nilly expoiters of the public (as if they had that much power!) It’s that “star architects” are often pruned into celebrities and then brought-in precisely when the public seems to be a particularly formidable foe, and that is what happened at Atlantic Yards.
Now it’s too late and Gehry realizes (again, too late) that he was treated like Lau in Infernal Affairs. Ratner is like the crime boss Sam who tricks Lau into revealing the location of police boss Wong and execute him, keeping him out of the way of a large coke shipment. Alas, like Lau, Gehry realizes at the end that he was loyal his whole life to the boss but in the end, the crime boss was willing to throw him under the train.
(reposted from my tumblelog, bezoar) | model photo: Gehry Partners LLP
