You do understand that Hudson Yards was (and I believe still is) owned by the City of NY and that the private developers agreed to a deal with the land owners, Right!?
Yes.
And I have been around ‘developers’.
Not at all unusual, is a clause that calls for a percentage of total spending to be earmarked for ‘public art’.
Often this is a way to buy off certain groups; put them on the art selection committee...
Sometimes the results are very nice.
Itasca Illinois, Westin Hotel building, a series of bas-relief sculptures in the brick work, made from the same clay as the bricks , very nice. So nice, I should stop by some day for a walk and another look.
On the other side of the coin and not so far south in Addison Illinois, a public building, the design was selected by a juried commision.
Now I’m not concerned with the exterior, a box is a box.
It is said,’the gods dwell in the details’ (FLR).
This jamoke would not spot a detail if it bit him, and many did come back, to bite!
He all but disappeared about half way through the project.
Errors and omission insurance? Never brought up, you could get hurt.
The selected architect was a very recent graduate, who received a 10% commision!! You may pay 10% on a nice home, but nobody pays that for a commercial box that cost over $10MM!!!
I never heard for certain, most thought he was a son in law???