Monthly Archives: December 2014

Architecture is qualiadelic

Posted on December 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Originally posted on Architecture Here and There:
Qualia characterize the features of things. (en.wikipedia.org) My brother, who lives in Oregon, has just published a book. It delves into the most intimate and profound aspects of ritual, and how engaging with…

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Naked proportion

Posted on December 8, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is Roger Scruton’s passage regarding the human body and its proportions, from Chapter 3 of The Classical Vernacular: Imagine a beautifully formed body – as depicted by Ingres, for example. Here we see a certain kind of perfection, in … Continue reading →

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Scruton on proportion

Posted on December 8, 2014 by David Brussat

As an advocate of classicism I’ve always been sort of absent without official leave from discussions of proportion. Perhaps that is because it involves mathematics, which I have tried to keep at arm’s length throughout my life. Thank God for … Continue reading →

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Architecture is qualiadelic

Posted on December 6, 2014 by David Brussat

My brother, who lives in Oregon, has just published a book. It delves into the most intimate and profound aspects of ritual, and how engaging with one’s own patterns of ritual creatively can improve one’s life, and open one’s mind … Continue reading →

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Scruton’s lonely candlestick

Posted on December 6, 2014 by David Brussat

Roger Scruton’s 1995 collection of essays, The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, begins with an essay, “Reflections on a Candlestick,” in which he describes an objet d’art sitting in a Brutalist conference room: My eye came … Continue reading →

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Shubow on Gehry’s finger

Posted on December 4, 2014 by David Brussat

Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, in Washington, has a new gig writing a column at Forbes.com. Shubow, who will remain at the NCAS, has directed the society’s vigorous defense of the Nation’s Capital against the proposal … Continue reading →

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Hell and Helsinki

Posted on December 4, 2014 by David Brussat

The 1,715 entries to the international design competition for a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki have been winnowed down to six, an entirely predictable six. I must admit I have not finished my cruise through the original entries. I have informed … Continue reading →

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Trad clearinghouse?

Posted on December 2, 2014 by David Brussat

Originally posted on Architecture Here and There:
How about a clearinghouse for traditional projects? Prompted by a conversation this morning with the Washington, D.C., architect and planner Nir Buras, I am thinking of starting a new blog, associated with this…

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Don’t maul the Mall

Posted on December 2, 2014 by David Brussat

The National Mall in Washington has been undergoing renovation of its famous grass and the soil underneath. Decades of marches, concerts and festivals, not to mention the constant tramp, tramp, tramp of millions of tourists yearly on this hallowed ground … Continue reading →

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