Category Archives: Architecture

For one- or two-way streets?

Posted on July 22, 2019 by

On a recent sojourn in (and above) Manhattan, Steve Mouzon sparked a Facebook conversation about the merits and demerits of one- and two-way streets. It unfolded at such a high level of thoughtfulness about streets (of either ilk) from so … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Art of the Olive Oyl skyline

Posted on July 19, 2019 by

This amazing (and scary) shot of Manhattan snapped (if you can say that about photos these days) from a helicopter hovering over Central Park was taken the other day by Miami architect Steve Mouzon. He and others may very well … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Mayor nips Foster’s Tulip

Posted on July 17, 2019 by

On July 15, London Mayor Sadiq Khan nipped Lord Foster’s proposed Tulip in the bud. Fine. But why? It does not “represent world-class architecture,” quoth the mayor. “Mayor rejects ‘unwelcoming, poorly designed’ Tulip,” stated Architects’ Journal. One study declared it … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Future of buildings revealed

Posted on July 14, 2019 by

Nir Buras, founder of the Washington chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, sent out to the Pro-Urb (New Urbanist) discussion group an article from the BBC that has much to say about buildings and which of them … Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The apology to Sir Roger

Posted on July 11, 2019 by

The New Statesman magazine, a British rag, has apologized at last for using monkeyed quotes from an interview in April to defame Sir Roger Scruton, who lost an important government post as a result. Who knows whether Scruton would like … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

People’s Notre-Dame contest

Posted on July 8, 2019 by

GoArchitect offers “The People’s Notre-Dame Design Contest,” supposedly as distinct from the international design competition announced by France after the cathedral fire in April. So far as I can tell, the announcement has not been followed up officially with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Songs of electric car silence

Posted on July 6, 2019 by

One of the endearing features of electric and hybrid cars is the silence of their engines. So of course that feature is about to meet its maker. U.S. and E.U. regulators are calling for noisemaking electric engines for safety reasons. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Humor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The trenches of modernism

Posted on July 3, 2019 by

Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school, died fifty years ago today. A new biography is out, Gropius: The Man Who Built the Bauhaus, by Fiona MacCarthy. Two major houses published it simultaneously, Faber & Faber in the U.K. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Latest from the I-195 circus

Posted on June 30, 2019 by

Last week the I-195 commission publicly rejected the Spencer Providence proposal for Parcel’s 2 and 5 on the eastern half of the Route 195 corridor. Of three options presented more than a year ago, it was by far the most … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Henry James inhales Nimes

Posted on June 25, 2019 by

Here is a passage from A Little Tour in France, by Henry James, published in 1884. In this passage he is in Nîmes, a town in Provence best known for the Maison Carrée, a survivor from Roman days that inspired … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments