Monthly Archives: February 2015

Sketching my mom of moms

Posted on February 28, 2015 by David Brussat

Here’s the column I wrote in 2004 about the annual meeting in Providence of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators. I was going to write it mainly about the work of a sort of sketchy illustrator from San Francisco in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Blast from past, Books and Culture, Providence, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Polemicists in pen and ink

Posted on February 28, 2015 by David Brussat

Someone recently twitted me for displaying on my blog beautiful drawings of a proposed new Boston City Hall designed (and illustrated) by Aaron Helfand. My correspondent said the building might not look as nice as the drawing when it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“My Modernist Parents”

Posted on February 27, 2015 by David Brussat

What would it be like as a 7-year-old to have “modernist architects” for parents? The film Me and My Moulton answers that question. Inspired by director Torill Kove’s growing up in Norway under the roof of such a species, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Book/Film Reviews, Humor | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Pawtucket! Woonsocket!

Posted on February 27, 2015 by David Brussat

With Pawtucket apparently about to lose its ball team, the city’s name is in the news, and it has caused me to marvel at the wonderful names cities in Rhode Island have. Pawtucket has a frankly puckish character. It’s nickname … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture, Humor, Providence, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Helfand’s Boston City Hall

Posted on February 26, 2015 by David Brussat

As I remarked in my last post, “Edges, shapes and patterns!,” Boston City Hall’s famous inhumanity came up in Tuesday’s lecture by Ann Sussman, co-author of Cognitive Architecture. At her lecture was Aaron Helfand, an architect at the Boston firm … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Blast from past, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Edges, shapes and patterns!

Posted on February 25, 2015 by David Brussat

Edges, patterns and shapes affect our perception of the built environment through the millennia worth of knowledge accumulated by our brain about our world. Only 70,000 years from the savannah and, as Ann Sussman put it last night, “your subconscious … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture, Uncategorized, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

PawSox to Providence?

Posted on February 25, 2015 by David Brussat

There once was a team in Pawtucket. To consider the merits of moving the Boston Red Sox Triple-A team to Providence, one must first swallow the vile pill of stealing the team from neighboring Pawtucket, which needs economic stimulus more … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The classical vernacular

Posted on February 23, 2015 by David Brussat

These capitals above by Portuguese architect Raul Lino (1879-1974), with more shots linked to down below, were sent by Malcolm Millais, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009), as an antidote (I think) to the snow in Providence, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Blast from past, Other countries | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

On “Cognitive Architecture”

Posted on February 22, 2015 by David Brussat

Ann Sussman will be in Boston on Tuesday evening to discuss her book Cognitive Architecture. She will speak at an event sponsored by the New England chapter of the Insitute of Classical Architecture & Art beginning at 6 in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Art and design, Books and Culture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Another battle in Charleston

Posted on February 21, 2015 by David Brussat

A developer in Charleston proposes to rip down an ugly modernist tower of 14 stories, built in 1949, and replace it with three mostly four-story buildings that reflect the city’s historic architecture. You’d think preservationists there would favor that. Instead, … Continue reading →

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