Category Archives: Architecture

Preserve Mineral Spring Ave.

Here is a column I wrote precisely 17 years ago. At the end is a mini-column relating to an early version of what turned out to be the GTECH building. *** Preserve Mineral Spring Avenue April 1, 1999 TWO YEARS … Continue reading

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

Dame Zaha, rest in peace

I have had many bad things to say about the architect Zaha Hadid, but she did not deserve to die this young. Her architecture inspired her colleagues around the world, and she was a model for rising female architects. Zaha … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Peter Thornton’s Providence

Tomorrow evening at City Hall, some of the buildings of Providence that I love and have photographed over the years will be on display as buildings loved and painted by the artist Peter Thornton of our fair city. His show … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture, Photography, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

And these are the winners!

Winners have been announced in the 2016 eVolo magazine skyscraper design competition, and they are real doozies. eVolo, which I’d never heard of, exists to discuss “the most avant-garde ideas generated in schools and professional studios around the world,” and … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Humor, Landscape Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Steampunk vid of New York

Came across this film, “The Old New World,” of New York and bits of Boston and Washington, D.C. (the Capitol), in about 1931, on the Kuriositas website. It is the Old New World Project run by Alexey Zakharoff. It is … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Old Video, Photography, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Big Dig redux in Prov?

My impression of the proposed 6-10 connector alternative to rebuilding the aging highway was to replace the highway with a surface boulevard – a concept I cheered last December in “A boulevard, not a highway.” Imagine my surprise reading in … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Brussels under dark skies

The world stands with Brussels now that it has come under the ire of ISIS. The beauty of Brussels makes it a prime target for terrorist uglies. I have been to Bruges but not to Brussels. The elegance of the … Continue reading

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

Long shots of Providence

Everyone’s filling out their wuddayacallits, the basketball thingies. President Obama did it. Well, Providence is hosting the regional NCAA semifinals, or did so this past weekend, whatever. I’m not sure how the Friars made out, but here are some even … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Silence for S.W. Pavilion

For about an hour tomorrow afternoon may be spent in silence for a good cause – sitting mute at a meeting to save the Southwest Pavilion. This is the oldest survivor from the day when Rhode Island Hospital looked like … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mehaffy on why we rebuild

A retrograde opinion by a thinker of apparently native good sense can generate a cavalcade of truths from another thinker in response. Thus we have Michael Mehaffy’s response to Duo Dickinson’s curious “Sprinting to the Past,” against the idea of … Continue reading

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