Category Archives: Architecture

Mayors and modernism

Posted on January 7, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is a column I wrote back on May 22, 2008, just after Boris Johnson’s election as mayor of London. At the time there was good news coming from the mouths of mayors in Italy and Czechoslovakia as well. Rome … Continue reading →

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Film of Chicago in 1940s

Posted on January 7, 2015 by David Brussat

Here’s a wonderful film of Chicago from the 1940s, discovered by film editor Jeff Altman at an estate sale on the South Side of the Windy City. A good portion of the film was taken from their air, courtesy of … Continue reading →

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Shubow on the march

Posted on January 6, 2015 by David Brussat

Justin Shubow has posted his second excellent essay at Forbes.online. His first, last month, analyzed Frank Gehry’s finger. His second analyses the flap aroused by the New York Times when it published an oped Dec. 15 twitting architects for ignoring … Continue reading →

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Simon Jenkins contra Boris

Posted on January 6, 2015 by David Brussat

This piece in London’s Evening Standard by Simon Jenkins may lack the flair of Rowan Moore’s denunciation of the Walkie-Talkie in the Observer (I assure you that Jenkins is quite capable of summoning that flair). But Jenkins takes aim at … Continue reading →

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Rowan Moore’s confusion

Posted on January 5, 2015 by David Brussat

Rowan Moore’s tart critique in the Observer of London’s newest tower since the hideous Shard – the Walkie-Talkie-Scorchie Building (20 Fenchurch) – is a joy to read. His sallies against the building that no longer burns cars on the streets … Continue reading →

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Another Chelsea Barracks?

Posted on January 3, 2015 by David Brussat

According to Robert Booth’s piece in The Guardian, it appears that the next battle in the style wars of architecture will take place in London’s Hyde Park. Booth’s piece, entitled “Architects’ vision of London takes inspiration from 19th-century Paris,” describes … Continue reading →

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Welcome to Warwick? Ha!

Posted on January 3, 2015 by David Brussat

The city of Warwick has made a big mistake permitting a developer to tear down the Elizabeth Mill near T.F. Green State Airport, in Warwick. Warwickers are always miffed that airline captains say “Welcome to Providence” upon landing in Warwick. … Continue reading →

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

The granularity of cities

Posted on January 2, 2015 by David Brussat

The University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Quality Communities has developed a website that offers superimposed maps of major American cities. The maps cover identical territory in each city, and you can slide a line in the middle to reveal the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

“Modernism in Vienna”

Posted on December 31, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s the column on my 2005 trip to Vienna linked to in my last post: Modernism in Prague and Vienna June 16, 2005 IN VIENNA AND PRAGUE, built before the divorce of art and architecture, where buildings are encrusted with … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Books and Culture, Other countries | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ornament and Crimehaus

Posted on December 31, 2014 by David Brussat

Recently, after several contributors to a TradArch discussion of Adolf Loos and his famous building in Vienna, Andres Duany pointed out that the windows in the upper floors don’t align with the building’s ground-floor features. Earlier comments had referred to … Continue reading →

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