Weird Visions of Red Hook's Future

Red Hook is being "reinvented" by Yale School of Architecture students, and all we can say is, well, they are only conceptual drawings. Very, very conceptual. So, we present them for those that enjoy flights of fancy, a few of which are pictured above. Otherwise, here's a little sampling of the vision:

A naturalistic recreation park with camping, an animal preserve, a golf course, a grand canal, water sports and fishing, to selling off park space and promoting large-scale private development. One radical view unveils a "CarPark" that provides Red Hook with some additional 31,021 parking spaces and doubles as a large regional public park. Perhaps less radical, another project contemplates an "Historic Red Hook", side-by-side with a "Street Car Suburb", public housing, beach, entertainment and a farm. And what about those big box stores? Controversy is not avoided here. One model advocates that big box stores and the like should be not be resisted but viewed as assets with the aim of dispersing them throughout Red Hook as "smart growth."

"Controversy is not avoided here?" Really? As if a student suggesting parking for 31,021 cars will be embraced warmly? Or a golf course? What's a Wal-Mart compared to those? Thank God these are only conceptual drawings and plans prepared by grad students.

Should you wish to sample the drawings and models for yourself, you can catch them at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist's Coalition Summer Show at the Beard Street Pier. On your way over, you could always stop at the Red Hook soccer fields for some papusas, assuming no one's turned them into a parking lot.