Category Archives: Architecture

PawSox sock the Bucket

Posted on May 17, 2017 by David Brussat

GoLocalProv.com came out today with an editorial, “Pawsox Owners’ Ask Is Failed Community Leadership and Ultimate Greed.” It says: “Terry Murray and Tom Ryan asking Pawtucket to float a bond is like Daddy Warbucks shaking down Annie and Sandy for … Continue reading →

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

Philly’s new revo museum

Posted on May 16, 2017 by David Brussat

Got a nice mailing the other day from RAMSA – that is, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Bob Stern’s firm, in New York City. Open the flyer and a photo on two flaps emerges of the Museum of the American Revolution, … Continue reading →

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

Drabble does ornament

Posted on May 15, 2017 by David Brussat

I’m close to the end of Margaret Drabble’s The Ice Age. I posted a short while ago some passages on the attitudes of developers in postwar Britain (“Inside Drabble’s developer“). Now the father of her developer protagonist has died and … Continue reading →

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

Remember to save Alamo

Posted on May 11, 2017 by David Brussat

The Houston Chronicle’s article “The Alamo is forgettable. A controversial new plan could change that,” by Texas Architect’s Alyssa Morris, describes a proposal to “remember” the Alamo by tinkering with its site in San Antonio. But her description of the … Continue reading →

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

D.C. classical tours return

Posted on May 10, 2017 by David Brussat

Washington, D.C., is among the nation’s if not the world’s most walkable big cities, and this year the town’s leading advocate for beauty, the National Civic Art Society, returns with a new slate of its walking tours. Moreover, because the … Continue reading →

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

A “McMansion Hell” blog

Posted on May 9, 2017 by David Brussat

Kate Wagner, who writes a blog called McMansion Hell, hates McMansions, and so do I. But I revere Kate Wagner’s ability to tell the difference between a McMansion and a mansion. They are different. I sometimes wonder whether the word … Continue reading →

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

The apotheosis of Ong-ard

Posted on May 7, 2017 by David Brussat

On Friday the top of my post “AD’s 24 ugliest skyscrapers” featured the Elephant Building, in Bangkok. Shortly after, Leon Krier left a comment informing me that the building’s architect, Ong-ard Satabrandhu, had had a Road to Damascus experience after … Continue reading →

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

AD’s 24 ugliest skyscrapers

Posted on May 4, 2017 by David Brussat

Architectural Digest has posted a list of the 24 ugliest skyscrapers in the world. Bully for AD. The building on top is in Bangkok. Is it the ugliest or the 24th ugliest? The editors do not say. I suspect that … Continue reading →

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

Inside Drabble’s developer

Posted on May 3, 2017 by David Brussat

Margaret Drabble’s 1977 novel The Ice Age is supposedly about Britain and its existential angst during the ’60s and ’70s, but I just started reading it. For a few pages near the outset, at least, it concerns the career of … Continue reading →

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

Rampant peeping-Tomism

Posted on May 2, 2017 by David Brussat

With all the glass residential towers going up with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the hotshot cities of the world, the global market for binoculars and telescopes must be going haywire. But not everyone wants to be caught in the two-ring circus … Continue reading →

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