Monthly Archives: June 2014

Architectural ‘myopia’

Posted on June 29, 2014 by David Brussat

Michael Mehaffy and Nikos Salingaros – respectively a design consultant and a mathematician/architectural theorist – wrote a piece for Guernica magazine in 2011 called “The Architect Has No Clothes.” It delves deeply into the phenomenon probed often in this blog … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Zaha in Baghdad? Not.

Posted on June 28, 2014 by David Brussat

Zaha Hadid’s come from behind victory in the international competition to design the next Iraqi parliament building probably also wins the prize for projects not likely to happen. Zaha somehow received the contract although Assemblage, of the U.K., won for … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Other countries | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Blast: Ah, the sandbox!

Posted on June 27, 2014 by David Brussat

Ah, here is that long lost column, from July 1996, in which I mentioned to a friend that a sandbox for the modernists might be an appropriate thing for her neighborhood, whereupon she kicked sand in my face. Someone just … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Providence, Uncategorized, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Blast: Seeking the sandbox

Posted on June 27, 2014 by David Brussat

Yesterday’s column referred to the “sandbox for the modernists,” notifying readers that I had once promised Providence modernists a sandbox they could play in on that distant tomorrow when land vacated after Route 195 was relocated would be vacant and … Continue reading →

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A corkscrew of a day!

Posted on June 26, 2014 by David Brussat

Got vile news today that the Board of Architectural Review in Charleston has approved Clemson’s design, by Brad Cloepfil, of Allied Works in Portland, Ore., for a modernist School of Architecture building in the middle of Charleston’s historic district. Remarkably … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Column: No need for preservation veto on 195

Posted on June 26, 2014 by David Brussat

Should Rhode Island’s state office of historic preservation have a veto over the design of buildings proposed for the land I once described as a “sandbox for the modernists”? Yes, it should. But no, it shouldn’t. A memorandum of agreement … Continue reading →

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No kookhouse for Koolhaas

Posted on June 25, 2014 by David Brussat

Speaks for itself: SPIEGEL: Some people say that if architects had to live in their own buildings, cities would be more attractive today. Koolhaas: Oh, come on now, that’s really trivial. SPIEGEL: Where do you live? Koolhaas: That’s unimportant. It’s … Continue reading →

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The first Palladiophiliac

Posted on June 25, 2014 by David Brussat

Sir Robert Walpole is said to have been Britain’s first prime minister, a fact that many people know. How many people know that he was also Britain’s first Palladiophiliac? The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating piece, “The Singular Style … Continue reading →

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Modernism in retreat?

Posted on June 23, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is an e-mail sent by architect Marc Szarkowski to the TradArch listserv’s discussion thread, “CNU is burning,” about modernism being invited further into New Urbanism at its recent conference in Buffalo. Marc disagrees, and though I’m not buying into … Continue reading →

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Biennale beanball

Posted on June 23, 2014 by David Brussat

The 14th Venice Biennale opened June 7 and runs into November, the lalapalooza of world architecture, this year curated by Dutch starchitect Rem Koolhaas. The usual suspects of architecture criticism have had their go at it, and it has proved … Continue reading →

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