Category Archives: Architecture

“Building with biophilia”

Posted on February 19, 2018 by David Brussat

Philosopher/mountaineer Damien François interviewed mathematician/ theorist Nikos Salingaros for The Clarion Review. Salingaros’s thinking has inspired much of the writing in this blog. His work has, among many other things, identified some of the neurobiological factors that predispose humans to … Continue reading →

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

Crashing into looking glass

Posted on February 18, 2018 by David Brussat

I’m always on the lookout for evidence of the flaws of modern architecture. So I was pleased to learn through an article in Fortune magazine that employees at Apple’s new round glass spaceship-like headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., keep walking into … Continue reading →

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

Empire of the Algonquin

Posted on February 16, 2018 by David Brussat

Just saw one of my favorite movies this evening, Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, in which a British boy, son of a factory owner in occupied prewar Shanghai, is split from his parents as they try to flee after … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Lost Providence | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Downsizing newspapers

Posted on February 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Unlike some other shrinking daily newspapers, the Providence Journal has not moved out of its historic headquarters building, designed by Albert Kahn and completed in 1934, during the Great Depression. But the Journal has shrunk big within its extraordinary neo-Georgian … Continue reading →

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

Throop Alley & other tidbits

Posted on February 14, 2018 by David Brussat

An agenda item for an upcoming meeting brought home to me the sadness and even the anger attending some of the more pernicious projects being sold around here as “economic development.” The agenda for the Tuesday, Feb. 20 meeting of … Continue reading →

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

Providential hand on sea rise

Posted on February 13, 2018 by David Brussat

The Jewelry District Association invited Barnaby Evans to speak about the future of WaterFire. That sent a shiver up my spine. Was the end nigh? No, Evans did not say WaterFire was doomed. He did suggest that sea-level rise might … Continue reading →

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

Olympic venues, 2018: wow

Posted on February 12, 2018 by David Brussat

To judge by my online Google search under “2018 olympic architecture,” the athletic venues and other structures built for this year’s Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, failed to capture the interest of the major architectural media. Maybe this professional … Continue reading →

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

Poetic justice in Portugal?

Posted on February 11, 2018 by David Brussat

In what may be the first major demolition based on aesthetic considerations, Viana do Castelo, a city in northern Portugal, plans to demolish a modernist residental tower that, in 1973, deflowered the character of its historic center. Not surprisingly, the … Continue reading →

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

Wild wood Scottish palace

Posted on February 9, 2018 by David Brussat

Here’s a passage from Three Sisters, Three Queens, Philippa Gregory’s historical novel set in Tudor England and, mainly, Scotland that unfolds – or unravels – as Henry VIII breaks with the pope over annulling his marriage to Katherine of Aragon … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Talk the talk on buildings

Posted on February 7, 2018 by David Brussat

An essay by Marianela D’Aprile, “What We Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Buildings,” on the website Common\Edge, gathers together some strands of discourse about architecture that I’ve posted on recently. Most particularly, I refer to a post called … Continue reading →

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