Author Archives: David Brussat

Unknown's avatar

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.

Shooting WaterFire!

Here are some shots of WaterFire, created and operated by artist Barnaby Evans of Providence. For readers unfamiliar with the phenomenon, the installation has played out on the city’s three intimate downtown rivers for, I think, 15 years now, every … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Photography, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Column’s gone fishin’?

Gone fishin’. Well, not really. Seems my blogaholism has taken a vacation. Plus my sources at Brown University went AWOL, leaving me with enough information to write a damning column about Brown’s proposed new engineering campus, as I’d intended, but … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Eyesore of the month?

The New York State Capitol is not Eyesore of the Month, but an illustration filling in for an eyesore in Jim Kunstler’s World Made By Hand, which I finished rereading last night. Here is a passage from that book. The … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

‘World Made By Hand’

My column about Don Powers’ presentation at Boston’s Traditional Building Conference a couple of weeks ago, which comes amid a lengthy set of threads about real or fake building materials on the TradArch listserv, reminded Steve Mouzon (who also spoke) … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Column: Traditional building in a modernist world

[This post is the continuation of my blog’s recent “Trad building conference” thread to No. 5. It may be read in The Providence Journal. Because the Journal online images do not “click to enlarge” I am going to run the … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

World’s best sculpture

No, the sculpture on display here is certainly not the best sculpture in the world, but it’s head and shoulders above most of what the artistic establishment considers the best – that is, twisted contortions of metal, symbols arrayed as … Continue reading

Posted in Art and design, Books and Culture, Humor | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Brown engineering virus

Brown University’s proposed new engineering school on Hope Street is to be designed by the modernist firm that designed the abominable new U.S. embassy in London, Kieran Timberlake. This is almost surely a disaster in the making, but not certainly … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Biophilia and biomimicry

Deep in the trenches of architecture, classicists and modernists are battling for the right to don the mantle of science. If you google “architecture biophilia” you will see a lot of stuff – including buildings – covered with greenery. That’s … Continue reading

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

Column: Halt this attack on the people’s plaza

[This is my weekly column in The Providence Journal, a revised version of the post “Let’s ruin Kennedy Plaza” on my blog Architecture Here and There, written on vacation the day before the July 15 groundbreaking for this unfortunate project.] … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Trad building conference 4

Of course, what would these affairs be without the schmoozing with friends, and the renewal of old and forging of new professional relationships? To my retiring nature these affairs would be perfectly marvelous, yet even I found myself luxuriating in … Continue reading

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