New Nets arena designer says Ratner wants a great building

Gregg Pasquarelli, founding principal of new Atlantic Yards Nets arena designer SHoP Architects, told the New York Observer that the firm was hoping to use Ellerbe Becket’s design as a starting point to “push the building into the next realm of architecture.” Pasquarelli said the firm decided to go ahead with the project, despite the criticism the architects knew it would face, because they were convinced, after meeting with Bruce Ratner, that he “really wanted to make a great building.” The firm would also be interested in designing some of the buildings around the arena, Pasquarelli said, and it might still be possible to nestle the arena inside towers, a feature of Frank Gehry’s original design. But tighter zoning envelopes make it increasingly harder to do cutting edge designs in New York, Pasquarelli said.