Category Archives: Architecture

Fane tower versus beauty

Posted on March 25, 2018 by David Brussat

Charles Denby is a Barrington doctor who has allied himself with the push for more art and sculpture in Providence. He doesn’t see why Providence should not have some major iconic work of art such as The Little Mermaid in … Continue reading →

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Roman Forum, live, at night

Posted on March 23, 2018 by David Brussat

Above is how the Roman Forum might look at night today if it had never degenerated into ruins since the empire, or if it had been reconstructed as it was at the apogee of its ancient fame. The work, by … Continue reading →

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Krier: Ruins and discontents

Posted on March 22, 2018 by David Brussat

Since we are still on our reconstruction roll, here is an excellent essay by Leon Krier, architectural theorist and master planner of Prince Charles’s new town of Poundbury. It was originally intended as an introduction to The Roman Forum: A … Continue reading →

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Zoo’s next stop: Houston

Posted on March 21, 2018 by David Brussat

“Next stop: the Amazon” reads the headline on today’s front-page story in the Providence Journal about the new South American Rainforest exhibit and its clichéd design, so out of step with the historical character of the zoo and its host, … Continue reading →

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Rebuild Aristotle’s Lyceum

Posted on March 20, 2018 by David Brussat

In 1996, as construction workers cleared a site in downtown Athens for the foundations of a new Museum of Modern Art, they found traces of a large structure sitting on the bedrock. A building had occupied this same spot some … Continue reading →

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Rebuild the Roman Forum

Posted on March 17, 2018 by David Brussat

Last October I described a master’s thesis on how to plan for a restoration of the Roman Forum – center of civic life in the capital of the Roman empire. The author, Eric Stalheim, was the first graduate of the … Continue reading →

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Battering Battersea Station

Posted on March 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Owen Hatherley has denounced a large development around the historic Battersea Power Station, in London. I cannot read his piece because it is behind the paywall of The Architects’ Journal. But I do have the next best thing – its … Continue reading →

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Still allowed to like Meier?

Posted on March 14, 2018 by David Brussat

I had absolutely no idea, two weeks ago when I wrote my post “Ha ha ha ha! Seriously?,” that its two subjects, Pritzker Prize architect Richard Meier and the late female architect Natalie de Blois, are connected. No, de Blois … Continue reading →

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Sources of modern silliness

Posted on March 11, 2018 by David Brussat

Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-83) wrote some of the pathbreaking works of architectural history that form the belief system of modern architecture today. The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design is one, which I am reading again for the first time in … Continue reading →

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Ross Award winners of 2018

Posted on March 9, 2018 by David Brussat

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art has just announced this year’s Arthur Ross Award laureates. Unlike the Bulfinch Awards of the New England chapter (also just announced) and other regional ICAA awards programs, which honor specific works, the ICAA’s … Continue reading →

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