Monthly Archives: March 2019

Lovely Venice in 9 minutes

Posted on March 31, 2019 by David Brussat

This beautiful travel video of Venice from Expedia lives up to the high standards of its tribe. The online travel booking service has dozens of fine videos of cities around the world that are so nice that they might make … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vid cities in ‘Fortnite’ game

Posted on March 29, 2019 by David Brussat

I’ve written several posts on the Assassin’s Creed video games, which take place in cities like Venice, Florence and London long ago. Recently, the 13-year-old son of a member of the Pro-Urb online discussion group published on his blog a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fane tower & Hudson Yards

Posted on March 26, 2019 by David Brussat

A relic of dated 2000s thinking, nearly devoid of urban design, it declines to blend into the city grid. The Fane tower, right? That building proposed for the Jewelry District near downtown Providence? No. In fact, it’s the Hudson Yards … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Copy, precedent, inspiration

Posted on March 24, 2019 by David Brussat

My friend and 2019 Bulfinch Award laureate Eric Daum recently revealed in a comment to my blog post “Cranston’s Hall Free Library” that this public library, built in 1927, must have been inspired by architect Albert Kahn’s William Clements Library, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Assassin’s Creed does Athens

Posted on March 21, 2019 by David Brussat

Here is an eight-minute video on the reconstruction of ancient Athens by game-maker Ubisoft for the latest episode (if that’s what it’s called) of Assassin’s Creed. Previous episodes have invited us into highly realistic reconstructions of Renaissance Venice and Florence … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Modernism vs. modernism

Posted on March 19, 2019 by David Brussat

“Why Do People Hate Modern Architecture?” is a ten-minute video by Betty Chen, who posts from ARTiculations.com, an art supply shop in Toronto. Chen comes across as favorable to modern art and architecture. Indeed, the next video of hers on … Continue reading →

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

A history of Thayer Street

Posted on March 17, 2019 by David Brussat

I’ve been invited to read from my book Lost Providence during an open-mic session this Friday, March 22, at the Brooklyn Coffee, Tea & Guest House, 207-209 Douglas Ave., at 6 p.m., $5, in Providence. But I think instead that … Continue reading →

Posted in Lost Providence, Providence | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Original green preservation

Posted on March 14, 2019 by David Brussat

Steve Mouzon, who with his wife, Wanda, runs an architecture shop in South Beach, near Miami, has come up with an interesting new calculus for making decisions on what to preserve in cities and towns. In 2010, Mouzon wrote an … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fane theater of the absurd

Posted on March 12, 2019 by David Brussat

Monday afternoon’s meeting of the Downtown Design Review Committee was the city’s first official look, in a public setting, at the design of Jason Fane’s proposed luxury condo tower. The meeting was pure theater of the absurd. It was as … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fight the Fane tower design

Posted on March 10, 2019 by David Brussat

All who oppose the Fane tower should attend Monday’s meeting of the Downtown Design Review Committee at 4:45 p.m. in the city’s planning department – the modernist brick building at Westminster and Empire streets. The size of the crowd mustered … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments