Category Archives: Architecture History

Monsters at gates of Paris

Posted on October 2, 2015 by David Brussat

A riveting photo essay about public housing primarily for immigrants to France, based on an exhibit of the photography of Laurent Kronental, brings to mind the damage to the world done by founding modernist Le Corbusier. “A poetic vision of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Other countries, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

More on WWI competition

Posted on October 1, 2015 by David Brussat

Aram Bakshian Jr., a White House speechwriter for Richard Nixon and brother of my old friend Doug – a globetrotting freelance journalist – has written on the World War I memorial design competition. His piece, “A War Memorial Design Competition … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Goldberger on Newport

Posted on September 30, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is the column from 1997 about Paul Goldberger’s lecture in Newport that I refer to in my blog “Botching history in Newport.” The illustration above, which went viral online, is from an recent exhibit at the Newport Historical Society. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Botching history in Newport

Posted on September 30, 2015 by David Brussat

In 1997, the Newport Historical Society hired Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for the New York Times at the time and then the author of The New Yorker’s storied “The Sky Line” column (and today the critic at Vanity Fair), to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Preservation, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Critic Moore on Zaha Hadid

Posted on September 29, 2015 by David Brussat

Rowan Moore, the powerful British architecture critic of the powerful Guardian newspaper in Britain, has done a profile of Zaha Hadid and her life’s work thus far. Moore is not impressed, and his profile is a catalogue of the many … Continue reading →

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Bizarre algorithmic design

Posted on September 28, 2015 by David Brussat

Writing in Wired, Margaret Rhodes opines in “The Bizarre, Bony-Looking Future of Algorithmic Design” that not only titanium face implants (above) and swingarms for motorcycles but buildings will be grist for the algorithmic mill. This is called “generative design,” as … Continue reading →

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Canoe canoe, Canada?

Posted on September 26, 2015 by David Brussat

“Canoe Canoe?” Remember that jingle from the ad for cologne back in, what, the 1970s or ’80s? Get it? Can you canoe! It rushed to mind with news that the design competition for a relocated Canadian Canoe Museum, in Peterborough, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Understand the Victorian

Posted on September 21, 2015 by David Brussat

Stephen Bayley, the architecture critic for the Telegraph, has written “Some Victorian buildings should be left to die.” He is correct, but some is a vague word, to say the least. “All modernist buildings should be left to die” is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

How not to “rebrand” R.I.

Posted on September 21, 2015 by David Brussat

Rooting around online in search of a website for the Metamorphosis dance troupe I saw in Pawtucket on Saturday afternoon, I came across what seems to me a perfect example of how not to “brand” Rhode Island. The pitch is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, I-195 Redevelopment District, Preservation, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Staff surrounds Eiffel Tower

Posted on September 19, 2015 by David Brussat

Unforgettable forgotten moments from the past are pictured in this romp called “Unrocognizable Paris: The Monuments that Vanished,” on the blog MessynessyChic.com. The well-illustrated piece recalls when the Champ de Mars was filled with monuments made of “staff,” a mixture … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Old Video, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment