Category Archives: Architects

BIMBY: Beauty here, too!

Posted on October 28, 2015 by David Brussat

BIMBY stands for Beauty In My Back Yard. It is a website launched by the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community – Prince Charles’s architectural shop in Great Britain. Even though Britain has tougher official laws against beauty there than we … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Zaha, FLW & arrogance

Posted on October 27, 2015 by David Brussat

Far be it from me to defend Zaha Hadid. Any ammo you can blow up under her reputation might rock her architecture – its reputation if not its actual existence. Let ‘er rip! I have defended Zaha from accusations that … Continue reading →

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

Handsome rectangular box?

Posted on October 23, 2015 by David Brussat

I had hoped to remain mum to “Brown’s handsome rectangular box,” as the headline over my friend William Morgan’s piece in the Providence Journal describes the university’s latest foray into the avant garde. Not very far into it, Morgan shrugs, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

“Unfinished New York”

Posted on October 22, 2015 by David Brussat

The journal Places has a long and fascinating essay by Belmont Freeman (a New York name for you!) called “Unfinished New York.” He is a columnist for Places and an architect in private practice in the city, no doubt a … Continue reading →

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

Will Stirling quote Wren?

Posted on October 21, 2015 by David Brussat

Take all the nominees for the Carbuncle Cup – a British contest for the year’s worst architecture – and all the nominees for the Pritzker Prize and its British equivalent, the Sterling Prize. Mix thoroughly. Now separate the buildings to … Continue reading →

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

Architect, bury your mistake

Posted on October 17, 2015 by David Brussat

Yesterday I ran some passages from the late critic Lewis Mumford and thought I recalled having written a column on him years ago after reading a biography. I cannot find it. But here is one column from June 1994 in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mumford’s words of warning

Posted on October 16, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is a passage from Lewis Mumford’s essay “The Case Against ‘Modern Architecture’” in the April 1962 issue of Architectural Record: In so far as modern architecture has succeeded in expressing modern life, it has done better in calling attention … Continue reading →

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

Authenticity in placemaking

Posted on October 7, 2015 by David Brussat

As part of its 30th anniversary celebration, the Providence arts collaborative AS220 gathered several expert “placemakers” under the deep atrium sky of the Callendar, McAuslan & Troup Building (1873, 1892). Called the Peerless Building now after the last in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Frank Gehry’s H.M.S. Foggy

Posted on October 6, 2015 by David Brussat

Not sure why I’ve decided to inflict on readers this old post from October 2015 on the day before the day before Christmas. It came to mind after a reader, intent on humoring me or torturing me, sent me a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Whale of a museum wing

Posted on October 4, 2015 by David Brussat

A storm threatened to lash the Whaling Museum in New Bedford yesterday, violent enough in prospect to counsel against a trip there with family. But today we went, or at least Billy and I did. Last week, despite dulcet weather … Continue reading →

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