Category Archives: Architecture

They don’t get Carnegie Hall

Posted on September 18, 2020 by David Brussat

Here is another edition of Timesman Michael Kimmelman’s virtual tours through Manhattan’s neighborhoods accompanied by celebrity architects, in this case Midtown’s Carnegie Hall area with Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, who once lived in a Carnegie Hall studio (they are, … Continue reading →

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More pause please, Newport

Posted on September 14, 2020 by David Brussat

Faced with a development proposal to replace the Newport Grand casino, the City by the Sea recently placed a moratorium on development in order to suck its elegant thumb about its development guidelines. Bloomberg CityLab published a lengthy article, “History … Continue reading →

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

New and old on Westminster

Posted on September 11, 2020 by David Brussat

Several years in the making, renovations on downtown’s Westminster Street between Union and Mathewson are almost done. It will take more time, and possibly the extirpation of coronavirus “and stuff” (as my son puts it), for the buildings to be … Continue reading →

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Disrupt architecture now!

Posted on September 6, 2020 by David Brussat

So proclaims Pittsburgh architect Anne Chen in “Let’s Change the Language of Buildings for the Future,” in Architect magazine. Huh? I thought that’s what architects have been doing for the last century. Here is her thesis: As a nation, we … Continue reading →

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Animal spirits of the E.O.

Posted on September 3, 2020 by David Brussat

The General Services Administration, which designs, builds and maintains all federal buildings, has issued a pair of RFQs (Request for Qualifications) for architects to design two federal courthouses, one in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and another in Huntsville, Ala., in a … Continue reading →

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Still attacking Kennedy Plaza

Posted on August 31, 2020 by David Brussat

A sensible plan to renovate Kennedy Plaza attractively without evicting public transit from Providence’s central square – by far its most logical location – was submitted in 2013, designed by Union Studio. In 2015, this plan was frog-marched out of … Continue reading →

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Fly train through Wuppertal

Posted on August 26, 2020 by David Brussat

This old video, just over two minutes in length, takes viewers through the western German city of Wuppertal, population 354,382 (almost double that of Providence), on a “flying”  or “floating” train a year after its completion in 1901. The Schwebebahn … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

‘Ask Dr. Downtown’ revisited

Posted on August 22, 2020 by David Brussat

In my last post, “Modern Diner, USModernist,” I promised USModernist talk host George Smart (aka Mr. Modernism) to send him an example of my old “Ask Dr. Downtown” columns, from when I did a column of architecture criticism every Thursday … Continue reading →

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Modern Diner, USModernist

Posted on August 19, 2020 by David Brussat

Great good news! I just now learned that, after half a year of closure, the excellent Modern Diner, in Pawtucket, has reopened. There is, I should say, nothing modern about the Modern Diner, just a ways down Hope Street, then … Continue reading →

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Paris of the Middle East

Posted on August 16, 2020 by David Brussat

It’s been several decades since Beirut was commonly known as the Paris of the Middle East. The recent explosion, which devastated the port and wreaked serious damage on nearby central areas of the city, only adds to its problems – … Continue reading →

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