Monthly Archives: November 2015

Eviscerating Edinburgh

Posted on November 8, 2015 by David Brussat

The iconic photograph of Edinburgh, above, testifies to what Scotland’s capital and leading city have to lose in a recent rush to development. The United Nations agency that oversees its World Heritage Cities program, UNESCO, has been asked to remove … Continue reading →

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

Morgan on Cram’s All Saints

Posted on November 7, 2015 by David Brussat

I direct readers to William Morgan’s splendid review in Design New England of the restoration of Ralph Adams Cram’s All Saints Church, in Dorchester, Mass. In part, I suppose, this post makes up for (and yet does not apologize for) … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Photography, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Rightsizing” Providence

Posted on November 6, 2015 by David Brussat

The King’s Cathedral, a church in Olneyville whose motto is “Where Everyone Is Royalty,” and its leader Bishop Jeffrey Williams hosted the inaugural session of this year’s “Beyond Buildings” symposium of the Providence Preservation Society. “Beyond Buildings” rubs me wrong, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Nat’s natural advocacy op

Posted on November 5, 2015 by David Brussat

The American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, has announced plans to build an addition that would fill up the lovely garden space known as Theodore Roosevelt Park, where Billy, Victoria and I sojourned for half an hour … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Lost in a Good Book”

Posted on November 4, 2015 by David Brussat

To illustrate the generally ecumenical theme of this blog, I will quote a few passages from Lost in a Good Book, a sci-fi comic thriller by Jasper Fforde, in which heroine Thursday Next, a literary detective who can jump in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture, Humor | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Misconstruing “starchitect”

Posted on November 3, 2015 by David Brussat

Kriston Capps’s piece for CityLab, “Leave Starchitects Alone,” is filled with so much hooey that I am embarrassed to be inflicting it on my readers. It is part of the continuing effort to tar opposition to modern architecture as partisan … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Loopy inSANAA “River”

Posted on November 3, 2015 by David Brussat

My life as a reporter of architectural design review proceedings has over-taxed my ocular muscularity. My eyeballs roll furiously whenever an architect declares that his building’s “remarkable transparency” allows it to give “new meaning to the concept of ‘blending in.’” … Continue reading →

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

Walker: “Babylon electrified”

Posted on November 2, 2015 by David Brussat

Nathaniel Robert Walker, whose essay on food and architecture many readers here recall fondly, has sent me another essay, this one entitled “Babylon Electrified: Oriental Hybridity as Futurism in Victorian Utopian Architecture.” The title may sound daunting but, as with … Continue reading →

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

My haunted reading list

Posted on November 2, 2015 by David Brussat

Two days after Halloween and and two days before the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt on Wednesday*, my reading list runneth over with coincidence. Apropos of nothing to do with this blog about architecture – hence the castle … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments