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SHoP Architects stumbled into an impossible situation, really.  From Frank Gehry to Ellerbe Becket to them, public approbation toward the Atlantic Yards project was bound to continue unabated, regardless of how sublime their rendering of the Brooklyn Nets arena turned out.

Even an arena worthy of Jerry Jones’ vanity would be incapable of blasting through New York City’s public opposition - for the simple reason that in their eyes, a good arena would merely constitute a consolation prize, awarded in return for their ultimate failure to prevent Bruce Ratner from developing Atlantic Yards in the first place.

Nonetheless, the loyal opposition should be heartened by the latest version of the Nets’ future home.  SHoP clearly recognized the delicacy of the context and unlike Ellerbe Becket, was certainly not tone-deaf to pervasive disdain for the project generally, and for bland, obtuse architecture, in particular.

In short: SHoP gamely broke down the monolithic size one expects to encounter street-side by composing the facade in a series of alternating bands of curtain glass and rusted-steel grid work (they even did this w/o ruining the form’s cohesiveness); the steel’s orange hue (bound to be polarizing) at least adds warm hues, which will be welcome during the gray cold months, and is cleverly punctured with light-filled gaps that will dynamically liven up the outer skin; the arena’s form engages in a bit of contextualism by extending into the narrow, western tip of the development’s footprint; by lining much of the street-level exterior with glass, passersby are given the chance to see which event they’re too poor to actually attend; finally, SHoP harmlessly unleashed Ellerbe Becket’s technical expertise inside, allowing it to design an “intimate,” low-slung arena that for some reason reminds me of the Seattle Supersonics’ Key Arena.

Let me caution however, that SHoP’s main guy, Gregg Pasquarelli is apparently not a Nets fan; so if the arena turns out to be less than advertised, that’s why.

Incidentally, I want to make note of something the New York Times’ Architecture Critic, Nicolai Ouroussoff, wrote in his reaction to this, the most recent chapter of the Atlantic Yards saga.  In his decidedly lukewarm reaction to SHoP’s design, he complains that “it still falls short of the high architectural standards set by the design the city was originally promised.”  I disagree on a few levels.  First, the beauty of a design is irrelevant once its cost balloons to an absurd size; designs can only truly “succeed” if they get built.  Second, despite the potential in Gehry’s work, I doubt whether an arena (of such a size) can ever truly constitute an architectural “gem” unless there are no financial, political, or stylistic barriers in its way (think:  the Bird’s Nest in Beijing).  Bruce Ratner’s project has dealt (poorly) with all three; my expectations of grandeur are scaled back accordingly.

More images at ArchDaily.

Image courtesy of threecee