Category Archives: Architecture

Separated at birth?

Posted on September 23, 2014 by David Brussat

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Norman Foster, separated at birth! Just look at them. Nose? Check. Eyes? Check? Chin? Check. A pair of suits with a yen to gesticulate. But on the other hand, maybe not. One was old … Continue reading →

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Hawthorne and architecture

Posted on September 22, 2014 by David Brussat

In his masterpiece (and my bible) The Golden City (1959), Henry Hope Reed cites a character, Holgrave, from Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, in describing early attitudes toward innovation in architecture. He has Holgrave, a daguerrotypist, say to his inamorata, … Continue reading →

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Issa beats wimp rap?

Posted on September 20, 2014 by David Brussat

I may have to retract Rep. Darrell Issa’s Cosmic Wimp-Out Prize, doled out by this blog just a week or so ago. My original post, “Ike memorial update,” described the latest iteration of Frank Gehry’s proposed memorial to General Eisenhower. … Continue reading →

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In defense of ‘starchitect’

Posted on September 20, 2014 by David Brussat

I rise to defend not the practice of starchitecture or the starchitects who perpetrate its follies on an innocent public. But the word starchitect has come under attack for the very reason that I like the word and use it … Continue reading →

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Column: Scotland back to its roots or nae

Posted on September 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Scottish voters decide today whether Scotland will be independent or continue its 307-year relationship with Great Britain. Whatever it decides – and the last polls were too close to call – its cultural hegemony over its own appearance will remain … Continue reading →

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On the Brown campus

Posted on September 17, 2014 by David Brussat

This morning, an especially nice one, I happened after a meeting at the Wheeler School to wander through the campus of Brown University. I took some pictures. On top, however, is the main building on Hope Street at Wheeler. And … Continue reading →

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Villa Graffarta Savoye

Posted on September 17, 2014 by David Brussat

Without intending to pick on Le Corbusier (not that there’s anything wrong with that), artist Xavier Delory recently found the Villa Savoye in sad condition, even worse than in the photograph above, taken before his masterpiece in suburban Paris was … Continue reading →

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‘Modernism and all that’

Posted on September 16, 2014 by David Brussat

Michael Mehaffy, the architectural theorist from Portland, Ore., who used to work with Prince Charles, sent in this brief essay to the TradArch list, which he has kindly let me post on my blog. There’s a lot of good stuff … Continue reading →

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Shot of Richmond Riverside

Posted on September 16, 2014 by David Brussat

This shot of Richmond Riverside, completed in the mid-1980s near London and designed by Quinlan Terry, is on the latest edition of AVOE – A Vision of Europe. It is so lovely that I decided to post it after posting … Continue reading →

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Beauty in Beirut

Posted on September 16, 2014 by David Brussat

This photograph comes toward the end of a most beautiful website called AVOE. The site, sent to the TradArch list by Audun Engh, features the lovable urbanism that remains in Europe, and fights against modernism that has warred against beauty … Continue reading →

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