April 16, 2004: Brooklyn Museum
I'm not sure how I feel about the new entrance to the Brooklyn Museum. On the one hand, they've done some nice landscaping in the plaza and added a beautiful fountain- on the other, they've grafted this metal and glass monstrosity on to the front of the building. This sort of thing has been tried before- the dome on the Reichstag in Berlin comes to mind. A part of me understands that the 21st Century is all about glass and plastic and alumninum and flowing forms- but sometimes it leaves me cold.
Comments
I have to agree with you. The building itself is so beautiful it strikes me as a shame to have the, er, 'addition' hindering the facade.
yeah- the more i think about it, the more i hate it. is it just impossible to build things that would be respectful of the older architectural styles? i mean, surely, they could have found something better than this weird UFO shape. i'm worried that in 15 years, this will be more dated than my dotcom shwag.
and don't forget le pyramide au Louvre
I immediately thought of the Louvre. We didn't like the entrance during the day, but it does look spectacular at night. The esplanade and the terraced seating areas are nice. Our friends brought little ones and they were mesmerized by the fountains - you can walk right up to the edge of the platform where the water cannons are and get splattered. The building facade looks so much better. It was looking pretty grimy.
old meets new and comes out looking weird. i'd still like to visit one day.
Leave a comment