Category Archives: Architecture

Blast from past: Review of Millais’s “Exploding …”

Posted on January 11, 2014 by David Brussat

I’ve mentioned Malcolm Millais’s Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture several times in recent posts. Malcolm, a Brit who lives in Portugal, has sent innumerable nuggets that have helped me push this blog over the edge for years. He is … Continue reading →

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Deport the Portajohn Building

Posted on January 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Again Malcolm Millais, of Portugal, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009), has sent me an uplifting essay, this time from Atlantic Cities, the urban blog, or section, of The Atlantic magazine. The essay, “Should Portland Save a … Continue reading →

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Column: Roses and raspberries for 2013

Posted on January 9, 2014 by David Brussat

From amid the doldrums of economic lethargy, good news and potential roses for 2013 arose last year in downtown Providence, where the Arcade is being redeveloped, as are four buildings once owned by Providence Gas. Dr. Downtown suspects that readers … Continue reading →

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Megastegasaurus

Posted on January 7, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is Architizer’s list of 10 most controversial architectural controversies of 2013. Most will amuse readers unpredisposed to modern architecture. Many are familiar to readers of this space (or its Journal blog predecessor). The last brouhaha (whether they are in … Continue reading →

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Wherefore art thou, Corbuseo?

Posted on January 5, 2014 by David Brussat

Correspondent Malcolm Millais, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009) has sent me a 29-minute BBC clip of a radio show, “Great Lives,” starring the modernist Sir David Chipperfield rattling on about Le Corbusier, one of, no, perhaps … Continue reading →

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The birth of classical architecture

Posted on January 1, 2014 by David Brussat

Theories of how classical architecture sprang from a wood hut seem plausible enough. Some gradual progression was obviously involved. But somehow, when rendered in the form of a step-by-step history, however evocatively illustrated, it seems to lose all plausibility, elucidating … Continue reading →

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April 7, 2005: Architecture and haute couture

Posted on December 30, 2013 by David Brussat

A comment from Thomas Hayes about my last post, “‘Wrong Way’ Corrigan Public Library,” called to mind that I’d once compared, in my Providence Journal column, architecture and fashion design. Here, as a “Blast from the Past,” is that column, … Continue reading →

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“Wrong Way” Corrigan Public Library

Posted on December 29, 2013 by David Brussat

Dale Thompson has retired after 25 years as executive director of the Providence Public Library. I make no comment on her accomplishments, except to note that over that span she – and the library’s board – oversaw the renovation of … Continue reading →

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Julius Shulman shot modernism

Posted on December 29, 2013 by David Brussat

Don’t I wish! The architectural photographer in fact probably did more to promote and then to revive modern architecture than anyone after it was briefly sidetracked by postmodernism. Above is perhaps Shulman’s most iconic photograph, of the Stahl House overlooking … Continue reading →

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FLW on Corbu – Let’s you and him fight!

Posted on December 27, 2013 by David Brussat

Here’s Frank Lloyd Wright taking a poke at Le Corbusier. Much fun, with the Great Man’s insecurities, if that is what they were, exposed. But still no cape. Maybe Corbu swiped it. Here’s the vid on YouTube. Hey, what’s Ludwig … Continue reading →

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