ON A BIG CHANGE AT COLUMBUS CIRCLE

EXTREME MAKEOVER

There is no doubt that Columbus Circle in New York, around 59th Street and Broadway on the West side, has seen architectural change and substantial improvements over the last half a decade, both with the arrival of the Time Warner Center complex and the re-design of Columbus Circle itself.

One element that has however remained a fixture, is the infamous and controversial Edward Durell building on the south corner of Columbus Circle, which most visitors know has the "Lollipop" building.  It often puzzled outside viewers with it's sheer exterior white walls where windows ought to have been, so as to allow enjoyment of the presumably spectacular Central Park views from that unique geographical vantage point.

Well, the building is finally getting a long debated and anticipated re-do, and the New York Times has a succinct article and interactive feature about it that's well worth reading.  As it explains:

"New York may not be able yet to place the name, but the lollipops will certainly be familiar. So will the shape and the pale color of Edward Durell Stone’s Gallery of Modern Art, built at 2 Columbus Circle in 1964 to house Huntington Hartford’s art collection.
Almost everything else has changed, however, with the transformation of the building into the Museum of Arts and Design (formerly known as the American Craft Museum), designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture..."
Stone’s design, initially disparaged, gained admirers in recent years, including Tom Wolfe; the architectural historians Vincent Scully and Robert A. M. Stern; and Herbert Muschamp, former architecture critic for The New York Times. Their pleas could not move the Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold a hearing on whether to designate the building.

So the transformation went ahead.  [See the interactive feature.]

Though the museum is four months from opening, the new facade has now emerged from its construction cocoon."

The short and well-prepared interactive feature is particularly helpful , in that is shows the historical evolution of the building in it's architectural context, especially the various constraints and realities.

As a New Yorker for over quarter of a century, I've lived within ten blocks of this building for much of that time.  My initial reaction, subject to change, is that the new design is a substantial step forward in enhancing Columbus Circle.  Look forward to the completion of the project, and seeing the changes inside.

At the very least, it should hopefully reduce the controversies over the original design.

Comments

[Shawn]

Hi,
This is an very informative portal regarding to the circle's in USA (Columbo circle), as defined it really help the people out there, i looking forward's for the great change in people's life lived out there.

Shawn
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