Category Archives: Architecture

A corkscrew of a day!

Posted on June 26, 2014 by David Brussat

Got vile news today that the Board of Architectural Review in Charleston has approved Clemson’s design, by Brad Cloepfil, of Allied Works in Portland, Ore., for a modernist School of Architecture building in the middle of Charleston’s historic district. Remarkably … Continue reading →

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Column: No need for preservation veto on 195

Posted on June 26, 2014 by David Brussat

Should Rhode Island’s state office of historic preservation have a veto over the design of buildings proposed for the land I once described as a “sandbox for the modernists”? Yes, it should. But no, it shouldn’t. A memorandum of agreement … Continue reading →

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No kookhouse for Koolhaas

Posted on June 25, 2014 by David Brussat

Speaks for itself: SPIEGEL: Some people say that if architects had to live in their own buildings, cities would be more attractive today. Koolhaas: Oh, come on now, that’s really trivial. SPIEGEL: Where do you live? Koolhaas: That’s unimportant. It’s … Continue reading →

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The first Palladiophiliac

Posted on June 25, 2014 by David Brussat

Sir Robert Walpole is said to have been Britain’s first prime minister, a fact that many people know. How many people know that he was also Britain’s first Palladiophiliac? The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating piece, “The Singular Style … Continue reading →

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Modernism in retreat?

Posted on June 23, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is an e-mail sent by architect Marc Szarkowski to the TradArch listserv’s discussion thread, “CNU is burning,” about modernism being invited further into New Urbanism at its recent conference in Buffalo. Marc disagrees, and though I’m not buying into … Continue reading →

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Biennale beanball

Posted on June 23, 2014 by David Brussat

The 14th Venice Biennale opened June 7 and runs into November, the lalapalooza of world architecture, this year curated by Dutch starchitect Rem Koolhaas. The usual suspects of architecture criticism have had their go at it, and it has proved … Continue reading →

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Column: Bill Warner, due diligence and history

Posted on June 19, 2014 by David Brussat

The Rhode Island Senate has passed legislation, Senate Bill No. 2255, to rename State Bridge No. 1181 — known as the Providence River Bridge — as the William D. Warner Memorial Bridge. Perhaps, in the waning days of this session … Continue reading →

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What young people want

Posted on June 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Jenny Bevan, of the Charleston, S.C., architecture firm Bevan & Liberatos, has written a brilliant critique of the proposed new building for the Clemson University school of architecture in the historic section of Charleston. Bevan is a graduate of both … Continue reading →

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Cayalá coming along

Posted on June 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s a detailed report from INTBAU, the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism, on Cayalá, the new traditional town in Guatemala. Its master plan was the work of Lèon Krier and the major civic building, its Athenaeum, was designed … Continue reading →

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Renzo Piano, constrained

Posted on June 18, 2014 by David Brussat

A friend sent me from HuffPost this image of a new “building” in Paris by starchitect Renzo Piano (what a name!), sure that it would raise my dander sky high. But while the structure certainly confirms the stupidity of modern architecture, … Continue reading →

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