LeFrak Center – Mapping Movement

Last weekend I took a walk through Prospect Park and meandered to the LeFrak Center, the ice rink completed in 2014 by TWBTA. I enjoyed a tour of the grounds guided by the project manager Andy Kim as part of Open House New York back in 2018. One of the most striking elements of the structure is the deep blue ceiling – faux stucco with deep decorative recesses in an abstract pattern of curves. The design was based on graphic notation for a figure skating routine, but Andy did not remember the specific details. I had thought – incorrectly – that it was a nod to the Manhattan Transcripts by Bernard Tschumi.

In fact it looks like types of movement notation like figure skating diagrams separately served as inspiration for both the ice rink ceiling and the book. It has always been a challenge to simplify dynamic movement into static lines and shapes, and I have a particular issue with a specific type of image – maps of battles. They often do a terrible job of conveying any of the horrors or drama of conflict, and often do a poor job showing movement. Below are three examples of maps for the Battle of Brooklyn/Battle of Long Island, which took place on the exact ground currently occupied by Prospect Park and the LeFrak Center. The battle is portrayed in some detail in the great book Brooklyn: The Once and Future City by Thomas J. Campanella