Totally agree. Maya Lin’s reputation is rock solid so I have to wonder if it wasn’t her approach to disrupt the design…and the sense of being out of place was in fact intentional.
There is a fine line between playing a dissonant note and a note that is just plain out of tune.
I get the idea, and I actually like it. The problem is with how it’s done. To really show the contrast between a meticulously crafted, man-made structure like this building and the natural, irregular form of a rock wall, flawless execution is crucial. Right now, the rock wall appears artificial and manufactured, which, for me, undermines the intended contrast and makes the whole idea fall apart.
Thanks for posting the video about how to critique. It was a good six minutes.
Sorry to say but that faux rock wall looks horrible and does not flow with the building whatsoever.
dont look at the painting until its done.
350 Park Avenue is going to look so bland right next to this.
I always find it humorous when people say faux or fake in general in either a knowing or unknowing way because the stone is real. 
I noticed some of the stone has gaps. Both sides have this feature.
It’s probably where they’ll place the plants.
That’s precisely what they are @ALC11 
Real as it may be, it looks fake.
It’s double faux.
What makes this stone look fake is not just the smoothing but the uniform coloration, which is actually unusual for stone generally and doubly unusual for a ‘natural’ stone feature. It just looks like gray concrete – it doesn’t even pick up on the brown tones of the rest of the tower and you’d find, ironically, in actual Manhattan outcroppings. Check out Tear Drop Park in Battery Park for an example of mimicking schist outcroppings that doesn’t look like a theme park. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc | Teardrop Park
That last rendering is breathtaking. Hope it looks remotely similar when the plants are installed.
I went back to Nov and Dec posts by 5Bfilms and TKDV looking for some sort of irrigation system behind the stone and not sure there is one. Although you can see some kind of piping snaking around not sure it is for water. There would have to be some kind of water delivery system behind the rock irrigating those spaces. Unless, the plants are plastic. LOL.
to be pedantic, It’s a park in Battery Park City, not in Battery park.
