Category Archives: Architecture

Insurance for Mack rebuild?

Posted on July 16, 2018 by David Brussat

Some spectacular good news about the Glasgow School of Art, whose main building, designed by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, burned down a month ago. It seems the school’s insurance may be enough to pay for reconstruction after its recent … Continue reading →

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

Fane tower = urban renewal

Posted on July 15, 2018 by David Brussat

I cannot attend Wednesday’s public hearing before the ordinance committee of the Providence City Council. The committee will hear testimony about whether to raise the height limit in the Route 195 corridor by a factor of six on behalf of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

The architecture of the eye II

Posted on July 13, 2018 by David Brussat

So whose eyes are these? Hint: She liked cat-eye glasses. Question: Is the beautiful pair of eyes behind these spectacles protected by lenses? Or could she have fun with her friends by wiggling her fingers through the frames? If so, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

The headache of modernism

Posted on July 8, 2018 by David Brussat

CNN has run an article called “Looking at buildings can actually give people headaches. Here’s why.” Its author, psychology professor Arnold J. Wilkins of Essex University, in Great Britain, is right. Modern architecture can give you a headache, and it … Continue reading →

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Bully for Chicago Union Sta.

Posted on July 6, 2018 by David Brussat

In 2004, Chicago watched historic Soldier Field become a toilet bowl. In 2019, Union Station will become a self-inked address stamper. That’s the opinion of Elizabeth Blasius in The Architects Newspaper. “Will a proposed addition turn Chicago’s Union Station into … Continue reading →

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The architecture of the eye

Posted on July 3, 2018 by David Brussat

Above are the specs that protected the eyes of Le Corbusier from the world. He and I have one thing in common: poor vision. That is about to change. A week from tomorrow I will undergo cataract surgery. My vision … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

So blame it on Washington!

Posted on July 1, 2018 by David Brussat

No other world capital so directly expresses itself in architecture as Washington, D.C. Its classicism was selected by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to reflect the ideals of democracy, reaching back to those of Athens and Rome. Between 1800 and … Continue reading →

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Signs of a city walkabout

Posted on June 28, 2018 by David Brussat

My friend Maria Ruggieri and I went walkabout – as Crocodile Dundee would say – in downtown Providence yesterday evening. We popped into a number of new restaurants, the first being Layali, a restaurant/bar (opened by owners of the late … Continue reading →

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Carlo Scarpa’s modernism

Posted on June 24, 2018 by David Brussat

The identity of my favorite modernist architect has always eluded me. I am not familiar with the work of every modernist. But modern architecture is by its nature inferior to traditional architecture. At its heart is a rejection of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Bulldoze or rebuild Mack?

Posted on June 22, 2018 by David Brussat

A horrific second fire in four years at Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art, completed in 1909, has elicited predictably cockamamie calls to demolish rather than to again rebuild the Scotsman’s masterpiece. Its restoration had been 80 percent complete … Continue reading →

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