"the silver beekman"
beekman towers, frank gehry's ready-to-rent residential design in lower manhattan, is 76 stories tall. i had mistakenly suggested to mfw that it is something like 106 stories. i am mostly indifferent to numbers, but i should have paid closer attention to such an important fact. the truth is though, when you stand at the base of the towers as i did last week, 76 and 106 stories look pretty much the same. too high.
and from that ground level vantage point, i wasn't convinced the beekman suits new york. it's impressive--for its scale and uncommon shape. and it can be mesmerizing-- the sky was bright and blue when i arrived at around 2pm, and the beekman captured the color perfectly, nearly blending into the sky. i imagined for a moment i was in south beach. when i left my appointment several hours later, grey sky had moved in, intensifying the steeliness. the bernini -inspired folds became reptilian and futuristic, like we were living in some michael bay 3D universe--the dark side of the moon. this was, for obvious reasons, the scary beekman. the sky changed yet another time and it shone silver--it could have been a landmark in any flashy town: vegas, atlantic city, dubai. it bothered me a little at first, that it could be so "anywhere." but it's rather a great trick. i'm no architectural scholar, but isn't it often the case the character of a building (if you think it has one at all) is evidenced by its shape and its architectural flourishes? but this one seems to have been given a personality that can change.
eb white wrote, "new york is peculiarly constructed to absorb almost anything that comes along." so perhaps the beekman, with its ability to absorb and exude light, is quintessentially "new york" after all?
the "sobe" beekman
the "michael bay" beekman
the reptilian view
***
and this is what makes me think frank gehry must be an incredibly charming fellow. when i was at the site, i wasn't exactly sure if the beekman was set behind and separate from the orange brick structure in the foreground, or if it formed the base of the actual skyscraper (i'd forgotten that the nytimes mentioned it). paul goldberger reviewed 8 spruce in this week's new yorker and reminded that it was a single structure, with the contrasting base intended to tie the tower to the rest of the neighborhood. who else could win with this visually ridiculous solution? not too many. same with having a 4th side of the building, the south side, flat (let's make one side of this "plain"...).
but i'm open to the idea that it might give a great effect.
i'll have to take it all in this summer, in the twilight, perhaps from somewhere across the river. i'll try to make a few good pictures then, too.
