Comments on: A Better Barangaroo (Updated) http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/ Classical Music, Opera, Theatre, Photography, Art, Books, Travel, Food & Drink - Long-Form Reviews, Previews, and Interviews Sat, 14 May 2011 23:31:00 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Urban Planning: A Manifesto - Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3717 Urban Planning: A Manifesto - Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:05:28 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3717 [...] - Urban DesignLapidary Discourse: A Sound PlayA Better Barangaroo (Updated)Tangled in WebsFrank Gehry in SydneyAustralia in the Berkshire ReviewVladamir Ashkenazy and the [...] [...] - Urban DesignLapidary Discourse: A Sound PlayA Better Barangaroo (Updated)Tangled in WebsFrank Gehry in SydneyAustralia in the Berkshire ReviewVladamir Ashkenazy and the [...]

]]> By: Alan Miller http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3706 Alan Miller Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:56:48 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3706 <em>Learning from Las Vegas</em> did a lot of harm, maybe as much as the worst misinterpretation of Corb's worst ideas, but Venturi's <em>Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture</em> remains one of my favourites. Why Learn from Las Vegas when there is always more you could learn from Paris, New York, Venice, Cleveland, etc.? I'd certainly take the most egregious Venturian kitsch over what is planned for Barangaroo. All this "Global City" propaganda is so humourless. Learning from Las Vegas did a lot of harm, maybe as much as the worst misinterpretation of Corb's worst ideas, but Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture remains one of my favourites. Why Learn from Las Vegas when there is always more you could learn from Paris, New York, Venice, Cleveland, etc.?

I'd certainly take the most egregious Venturian kitsch over what is planned for Barangaroo. All this "Global City" propaganda is so humourless.

]]> By: Richard Harrington http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3704 Richard Harrington Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:58:27 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3704 Hi Alan, Much of the galling proliferation of kitsch that you are desribing can be attributed to Robert Venturi's Learning From Las Vegas which became a prescription for turning every city in the world into a parking mall, as though there were actually something to be learned from Las Vegas. It was a how-to book in its day... How to vomit, for example. Hi Alan,
Much of the galling proliferation of kitsch that you are desribing can be attributed to Robert Venturi's Learning From Las Vegas which became a prescription for turning every city in the world into a parking mall, as though there were actually something to be learned from Las Vegas. It was a how-to book in its day... How to vomit, for example.

]]> By: Andrew Miller http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3691 Andrew Miller Sat, 12 Mar 2011 07:32:46 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3691 Right on, Alan! A demonstration against this bad architecture is being organized for <strong>Tuesday 15 March at 12:30pm at 30 Hickson Road Millers Point.</strong> Jefe can't make it unfortunately... Right on, Alan!

A demonstration against this bad architecture is being organized for Tuesday 15 March at 12:30pm at 30 Hickson Road Millers Point.

Jefe can't make it unfortunately...

]]> By: marcelle hoff http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3597 marcelle hoff Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:38:35 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3597 Thank you for your valuable comments re the Barangaroo development. The entire project has been steeped in greed, dishonesty and a total lack of integrity. You may want to look at www.afsd.org.au regards, marcelle Thank you for your valuable comments re the Barangaroo development. The entire project has been steeped in greed, dishonesty and a total lack of integrity. You may want to look at http://www.afsd.org.au
regards, marcelle

]]> By: Alan Miller http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3594 Alan Miller Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:38:18 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3594 The above comment offers up a greatest hits of Barangaroo fallacies. I will try to answer one by one: 1. Nobody is against building buildings on the site. We just want to get it right. 2. There is nothing wrong with whinging. When called criticism it is the first step towards understanding. 3. If Sydney's economy truly hangs in the balance over the 6,000 jobs Barangaroo will supposedly create then we are in real trouble. 4. The land is in huge demand, therefore the public, as owner of the land, is in the driver's seat. If this plan were scrapped there would be no problem finding a gaggle of developers willing to take Lend Lease's place. 5. I'm not sure what "global city status" is but I suspect that New York would not allow a 45 storey hotel to be built in the Hudson, nor Paris in the Seine, nor London in the Thames. The hotel tower is not "iconic," it is tacky. 6. The process has been appalling. Today's news is just the latest example. 7. I don't claim that the "Better Barangaroo" design is ideal. It is a correction. It is urban design, not architecture. It sets out certain general principles which ought to be followed. If the original competition winning design had been followed it would not be necessary. 8. Anyone who thinks a bunch of bulky towers full of cubicles, a big hotel and an extremely expensive faux-headland park are 'worthwhile' or dynamic or iconic or any other resolutely anti-descriptive Barangarooian adjective doesn't know Palladio from a McMansion. The above comment offers up a greatest hits of Barangaroo fallacies. I will try to answer one by one:

1. Nobody is against building buildings on the site. We just want to get it right.

2. There is nothing wrong with whinging. When called criticism it is the first step towards understanding.

3. If Sydney's economy truly hangs in the balance over the 6,000 jobs Barangaroo will supposedly create then we are in real trouble.

4. The land is in huge demand, therefore the public, as owner of the land, is in the driver's seat. If this plan were scrapped there would be no problem finding a gaggle of developers willing to take Lend Lease's place.

5. I'm not sure what "global city status" is but I suspect that New York would not allow a 45 storey hotel to be built in the Hudson, nor Paris in the Seine, nor London in the Thames. The hotel tower is not "iconic," it is tacky.

6. The process has been appalling. Today's news is just the latest example.

7. I don't claim that the "Better Barangaroo" design is ideal. It is a correction. It is urban design, not architecture. It sets out certain general principles which ought to be followed. If the original competition winning design had been followed it would not be necessary.

8. Anyone who thinks a bunch of bulky towers full of cubicles, a big hotel and an extremely expensive faux-headland park are 'worthwhile' or dynamic or iconic or any other resolutely anti-descriptive Barangarooian adjective doesn't know Palladio from a McMansion.

]]> By: Jason http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3590 Jason Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:23:55 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3590 Who died and made THIS version of Barangaroo supposedly better? From Gods mouth to your head I suppose? The anti barangaroo council are just whingers and thugs who are not above lying to influence public opinion. They are anti jobs, anti growth, merely they are apartment owners who are sulking at the loss of their veiws and are selfishly in the process of denying a whole city a worthwhile project. If this does not go ahead, Sydney will continue to fall behind and its global city status will dissapear entirely. The reason the government has taken over the project is that too many self interest groups have had their whinge because they arent getting their way. Cudos to Barangaroo, I cant wait to see it fillup with buildings. Who died and made THIS version of Barangaroo supposedly better? From Gods mouth to your head I suppose? The anti barangaroo council are just whingers and thugs who are not above lying to influence public opinion. They are anti jobs, anti growth, merely they are apartment owners who are sulking at the loss of their veiws and are selfishly in the process of denying a whole city a worthwhile project. If this does not go ahead, Sydney will continue to fall behind and its global city status will dissapear entirely.
The reason the government has taken over the project is that too many self interest groups have had their whinge because they arent getting their way.
Cudos to Barangaroo, I cant wait to see it fillup with buildings.

]]> By: Eli Gescheit http://berkshirereview.net/2011/02/a-better-barangaroo/#comment-3442 Eli Gescheit Sun, 20 Feb 2011 03:59:53 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=9979#comment-3442 Barangaroo is the litmus test for the NSW planning system. There are no design guidelines to comply with and the approved concept plan is significantly different from the more conservative plan chosen from the design competition. The failure of Barangaroo does not lie with the skilled designers, it is simply a planning system with no set rules, as the government keeps moving the goal posts where they see fit. Barangaroo is the litmus test for the NSW planning system. There are no design guidelines to comply with and the approved concept plan is significantly different from the more conservative plan chosen from the design competition.

The failure of Barangaroo does not lie with the skilled designers, it is simply a planning system with no set rules, as the government keeps moving the goal posts where they see fit.

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