Monthly Archives: September 2019

Waterfire’s quarter century

Posted on September 29, 2019 by David Brussat

If I were more energetic I’d scrounge up examples of photos from WaterFire going back five, ten, fifteen, twenty and 25 years to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Providence’s art installation created (as if it were sufficient to use such … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Stroik’s honest architecture

Posted on September 27, 2019 by David Brussat

In this video, master architect Duncan Stroik defenestrates three of architecture’s most enduring principles. Speaking to attendees at the 2017 Bulfinch awards lecture series, Stroik takes a hammer to the “honesty” that supposedly undergirds classicism, especially this holy triad: that … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

A monumental carbuncle

Posted on September 25, 2019 by David Brussat

After years of closure pending repair of cracks in its shaft after a freak 2011 earthquake centered in Virginia, the Washington Monument reopened last week. I was aware of the repair but unaware that it entailed that obligatory inducement to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Scruton’s architecture school

Posted on September 23, 2019 by David Brussat

There’s much in the air these days about architecture school. British students have petitioned for architecture schools across the pond to do a better job teaching how architecture school can be more relevant to climate change. Sir Roger Scruton has … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

A stroll through Sept.’s TB

Posted on September 20, 2019 by David Brussat

Traditional Building now sends out eight issues a year to subscribers, most of whom are, I suspect, either architects or those involved in businesses that offer building services and, especially, products to embellish residential, commercial or institutional building projects, including … Continue reading →

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Hunting the Bristol baluster

Posted on September 15, 2019 by David Brussat

Some collections grow slowly. My collections of miniature buildings and of historical balusters are moribund. I have about twenty or thirty of the little buildings (gathered mostly on overseas trips) and two balusters – one from the Rhode Island State … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Keep Kennedy Plaza central

Posted on September 12, 2019 by David Brussat

The master planners of Providence and Rhode Island have figured out how to screw up Kennedy Plaza again. In 2015 they removed its four elegant, Art Nouveau-inspired waiting kiosks, replacing them with sterile plasticky kiosks. Now they want to dig … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Reverse landscape of despair

Posted on September 9, 2019 by David Brussat

Understandably, an overlooked part of the debate about architecture is the ease of moving back to tradition in building cities and towns. My blog on Friday, “Modern architecture is killing us,” quoted extensively from James Howard Kunstler’s essay “The Landscape … Continue reading →

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How modernism is killing us

Posted on September 5, 2019 by David Brussat

In my post on Tuesday, “Alien spaceship in Alberta!,” author and iconoclast James Howard Kunstler tagged Edmonton’s new Deconstructivist library as August’s “Eyesore of the Month.” (The name pegs the style as accurately as that of Brutalism.) Well, as they … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Alien spaceship in Alberta!

Posted on September 3, 2019 by David Brussat

Imagine if the charming little spaceship that landed on the Mall in The Day the Earth Stood Still had looked like this. Full global fright would have been the instantaneous and immutable reaction. Sorry, no negotiation over a meeting of … Continue reading →

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