Author Archives: David Brussat

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About David Brussat

This blog was begun in 2009 as a feature of the Providence Journal, where I was on the editorial board and wrote a weekly column of architecture criticism for three decades. Architecture Here and There fights the style wars for classical architecture and against modern architecture, no holds barred. History Press asked me to write and in August 2017 published my first book, "Lost Providence." I am now writing my second book. My freelance writing on architecture and other topics addresses issues of design and culture locally and globally. I am a member of the board of the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, which bestowed an Arthur Ross Award on me in 2002. I work from Providence, R.I., where I live with my wife Victoria, my son Billy and our cat Gato. If you would like to employ my writing and editing to improve your work, please email me at my consultancy, dbrussat@gmail.com, or call 401.351.0457. Testimonial: "Your work is so wonderful - you now enter my mind and write what I would have written." - Nikos Salingaros, mathematician at the University of Texas, architectural theorist and author of many books.

To guide or not to guide?

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

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

Zum! Zum! Zum! Zumthor!

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

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dorothy in “Renderland”

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

Eviscerating Edinburgh

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

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

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

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”

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”

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”

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