Category Archives: Architecture History

“Modernism in Vienna”

Posted on December 31, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s the column on my 2005 trip to Vienna linked to in my last post: Modernism in Prague and Vienna June 16, 2005 IN VIENNA AND PRAGUE, built before the divorce of art and architecture, where buildings are encrusted with … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Books and Culture, Other countries | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ornament and Crimehaus

Posted on December 31, 2014 by David Brussat

Recently, after several contributors to a TradArch discussion of Adolf Loos and his famous building in Vienna, Andres Duany pointed out that the windows in the upper floors don’t align with the building’s ground-floor features. Earlier comments had referred to … Continue reading →

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Betsky goes ballistic

Posted on December 23, 2014 by David Brussat

Let the establishment – in this case the New York Times – allow just a single peep against modern architecture, and its enforcers suffer total meltdown of equanimity. Aaron Betsky, the architecture critic for the journal of the American Institute … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments

Cuba libre, let us hope

Posted on December 20, 2014 by David Brussat

Other commentators can and will masticate the president’s new Cuba policy, but let me shed a few tears for the Cuba of yesterday known as the Cuba of today that might not last far into the Cuba of tomorrow. Havana … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

“Change” at Chartres

Posted on December 19, 2014 by David Brussat

That change is the only constant is one of my least favorite aphorisms. And it is among the least inimical of lessons to be drawn from the ongoing “restoration” of Chartres Cathedral, off the west coast of France. The job … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Other countries, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Browbeating Boston’s brand

Posted on December 13, 2014 by David Brussat

Marty Walsh has taken over as Boston mayor after 20 years of Tom Menino, who used to decide what sort of hat new buildings would wear – most famously, the “tiara” of a glitzy tower called R2-D2, near the Pru. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Naked proportion

Posted on December 8, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is Roger Scruton’s passage regarding the human body and its proportions, from Chapter 3 of The Classical Vernacular: Imagine a beautifully formed body – as depicted by Ingres, for example. Here we see a certain kind of perfection, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Scruton on proportion

Posted on December 8, 2014 by David Brussat

As an advocate of classicism I’ve always been sort of absent without official leave from discussions of proportion. Perhaps that is because it involves mathematics, which I have tried to keep at arm’s length throughout my life. Thank God for … Continue reading →

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Another sharp eye . . . ?

Posted on November 29, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s a comment that just came in to the TradArch list by Andrès Duany. He helped found and has been the most active leader of the New Urbanism movement. Today, after winning the Driehaus Award of 2009, he is writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

A sharp eye into classicism

Posted on November 29, 2014 by David Brussat

Bruce Donnelly, an urban planner and design theorist from Cleveland, had two very interesting posts on the TradArch list yesterday. In the first passage, he is referring to comments from others about how classical architects can learn from modern architecture. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments