Atlantic Yards as Seen in a Heatwave: Made in the Shade

Look really hard, and behind every mountain of manure you will always find a pony. Case in point: the graphic above, shared by the South Oxford Street Block Association, which shows the spread of shadow from the towers of Atlantic Yards in a most dramatic way. (It is a re-colored version of one created by Forest City Ratner.) The good people at the Block Association entitle this little vision "Welcome to the future of Fort Greene (if Ratner has his way). Say goodbye to the sun – and the charm & beauty of our historic, neighbor-friendly Fort Greene."

So, where's the pony? Have you been outside in the last 24 hours?

A fact is a fact and it is time to face facts: The area around Atlantic Yards is like an awful frying pan in summer, especially blazing afternoon sun. You could die outside of the Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal just from the sun reflecting off the concrete. (Excellent urban design, planning and architecture.)

The intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues? Fuhgeddaboudit. It must be 120 degrees out there in that godforsaken Sahara of asphalt, concrete and combustion engine exhaust today.

You see where we're going with this, right? On most days, the blotting out of sun pictured above would be cause for consternation. Today? It's cause for celebration. Consider how much cooler it will be in Fort Greene and in Prospect Heights (and by the look of this graphic in parts of Boerum Hill and Park Slope) once Atlantic Yards is built and the sweep of shadow covers much of the nabe in darkness (depending on the time of day). Think of the joy of Flatbush and Atlantic in the shade. We're talking about a project that will make the surroundings ten to fifteen degrees cooler than the rest of Brooklyn. Minimum. Like going to Coney Island without getting on the D, F, N or Q. And those inside "public spaces"? Those suckers will never see the light of day--virtual outdoor refrigerators! The city will probably be able to open cooling centers there on days like this.

As a world class creator of shade, (again, see the nifty graphic above) Atlantic Yards may be the most forward thinking bit of top-down urban planning and megastructure architecture to come along in years, especially with global warming coming at us faster than you can say "rising sea levels wreck havoc on South Brooklyn" or "I hope that Killer Hurricane bearing down on us hangs a right at Bermuda."

Thirty years from now--assuming all that glass that Frank Gehry would use in his building doesn't create a tragic magnifying glass effect--a future generation of Brooklynites will hail the forward-thinking Man from Bilbao and the Patron of Thoughtful Architecture Known as Bruce Ratner because they made shade.

Mr. Ratner and Mr. Gehry, on this bloody hot day, we salute you for thinking about putting a signficant part of Brooklyn in shade!