Despite delays and the cancellation of high-profile plans, the BAM Cultural District in downtown Brooklyn is slowly but surely moving forward. Envisioned as a hub of artistic activity clustered around the existing Brooklyn Academy of Music, four projects are scheduled to break ground later this year.
The district was originally organized around a master plan completed in the year 2000 by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, and included an Enrique Norten-designed glass library shaped like a boat prow, and a new theater by Frank Gehry and Hugh Hardy of the New York-based H3 Hardy Collaboration. Those plans changed significantly over time due to a lack of funds, changing players, and shifting ideas for the site.