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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

The invocation of Jay-Z spreads ever further: "They dance with each other, not like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, but like Shawn and Beyoncé”

From today's New York Times Real Estate section, High-Rises to Replace an East Side Eyesore:
Countless New Yorkers have driven by the construction rubble that lines the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive from East 35th Street to East 41st... Now the first shovels have hit the ground, and the block-front on First Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets will soon be transformed into two curving, copper-clad residential towers, creating some 800 new high-end rental units.

...“This area hasn’t seen any great architecture since the development of the United Nations” in 1947, said Vishaan Chakrabarti, a partner at SHoP Architects, which is responsible for both exteriors and interiors in the project. “This could be a harbinger of things to come in terms of getting more innovative design along the East River.”

The two buildings bend and connect via a sky bridge, billed as the showstopper, which will feature an indoor lap pool and a lounge area... “The buildings are modern and fresh,” Mr. Chakrabarti said. “They dance with each other, not like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, but like Shawn and Beyoncé,” Shawn Carter being better known as Jay Z.
Um, I get that Chakrabarti wants to be modern, but Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire were a couple known for dancing, while "Shawn and Beyoncé,” no matter their considerable talents, are not. So Chakrabarti, who's also working on Atlantic Yards, sounds like he's doing his best to exploit celebrity names.

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