Monthly Archives: November 2015

Skyscraper vs. skyscraper

Posted on November 16, 2015 by David Brussat

Hats off to Kristen Richards of ArchNewsNow.com for publishing a denunciation by CityLab of the (Toronto) Globe & Mail’s critic Eric Reguly’s piece “Why skyscrapers are killing great cities.” Otherwise we might not have seen the latter essay, which flies … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cranston’s Hall Free Library

Posted on November 15, 2015 by David Brussat

Your intrepid correspondent met on Friday at the William Hall Free Library, in the Edgewood neighborhood of Cranston, with Clayton Fulkerson to view his models of ancient temples, now on exhibit there through the rest of this month. The library, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture, Photography, Preservation, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Paris strong, Paris beautiful

Posted on November 14, 2015 by David Brussat

Very little suggests itself to me in reply to last night’s evil events in Paris except to assert, a year after the Charlie Hebdo attack, that America still has France’s back. America is next. It becomes deadly clear that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Shostakovich in Leningrad

Posted on November 13, 2015 by David Brussat

I just read a passage so astonishing about Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (“The Leningrad Symphony”) that I must pass it along. It is about how the Soviets got a score for the newly written music to Leningrad during the siege. … Continue reading →

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Ancient temples on parade

Posted on November 13, 2015 by David Brussat

Driving up Broad Street in Cranston the other day I passed the William Hall Free Library, designed by George Frederick Hall (no apparent relation) and opened in 1927. Delighted to reacquaint myself with its existence, I promised myself to return … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Photography, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

SOS for lonely medical relic

Posted on November 12, 2015 by David Brussat

It appears that the days are numbered for the sad, lonely final relic of the old Rhode Island Hospital. The Providence Journal’s Patrick Anderson reports in “Rhode Island Hospital plans to raze 115-year-old Southwest Pavilion, last remaining building from original … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

WWII Memorial on Vets Day

Posted on November 11, 2015 by David Brussat

Here are some photographs I took of the National World War II Memorial on the mall at Washington in 2011. The memorial was designed by Rhode Island architect Friedrich St. Florian, who won an international design competition in 1997. To … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Photography, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

To guide or not to guide?

Posted on November 11, 2015 by David Brussat

Above is a photograph of construction under way for apartments in the Cherry Creek North district of Denver. Is the glass-and-steel structure to the right part of the project or does it just abut the project? Either way, it casts … Continue reading →

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Zum! Zum! Zum! Zumthor!

Posted on November 10, 2015 by David Brussat

The forces of architecture in Los Angeles are clashing over the latest proposal, by Swiss architect and Pritzker prizewinner Peter Zumthor, for the new LACMA. What is the LACMA? A lengthy critique of an even lengthier critique of Zumthor’s design … Continue reading →

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Dorothy in “Renderland”

Posted on November 9, 2015 by David Brussat

Given the apparent difficulty architects have designing places that improve rather than undermine their settings, I was amused at the crie de coeur from art critic Mary Louise Schumacher of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about the figures – known in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 19 Comments