Category Archives: Art and design

WWI jury’s memorial error

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

The jury of an international competition to design a national memorial for World War I has made its choice, overlooking a beautiful classical proposal in order to select a more modest proposal that, perhaps, will ruffle a lot fewer feathers. … Continue reading →

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

Mittell: “Why I love Lviv”

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

David A. Mittell Jr., of Boston, has visited Lviv 22 times, some of them while he was on the editorial board of the Providence Journal, where I first met him. He now writes independently, after a stint as editor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Other countries, Preservation, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Architecture and Mozart II

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

Here is a passage from a letter by Mozart in Wolfgang Hildesheimer’s 1982 biography, Mozart, in which the great composer, who was apparently not given to theorizing about music, theorizes about music. The passage might be read with profit by … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trying to like this building

Posted on January 25, 2016 by David Brussat

Capital Properties has proposed and the Capital Center Commission has apparently approved the design above for the parcel next to the almost supernaturally ugly Capital Cove, on land at Canal and Smith streets along the Moshassuck River. Here is what … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Architecture and Mozart

Posted on January 24, 2016 by David Brussat

It would have been difficult for Geothe’s line “Architecture is frozen music” not to float into mind after I stumbled across this passage in Mozart, by Wolfgang Hildescheimer, another fabulous Christmas gift from my friend Steve, who I forgot to … Continue reading →

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Wexford, save 195 corridor

Posted on January 23, 2016 by David Brussat

Coincidentally, I read that Wexford Science + Technology signed the dotted line on its purchase of land in Providence’s I-195 corridor just after I’d read the final passage in the conclusion of Brent Brolin’s The Failure of Modern Architecture. Brolin … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, I-195 Redevelopment District, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Brolin on vandalizing Yemen

Posted on January 22, 2016 by David Brussat

I have raised this subject many times as modern architecture works to wipe out indigenous cultures around the world. In his 1976 book The Failure of Modern Architecture, Brent Brolin provides a vivid account of the arrogance of modern architecture’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Other countries, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Happy design, happy toaster

Posted on January 21, 2016 by David Brussat

We are all critics of product design. Recently our toaster bit the dust and we bought a new one. Our old Cuisinart gave way to a shiny new Hamilton Beach. But we soon realized that our bagels were no longer … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Humor | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Adele C-T at PPS in Prov.

Posted on January 20, 2016 by David Brussat

Adele Chatfield-Taylor will speak at tonight’s annual meeting of the Providence Preservation Society. It will be at 5:30 p.m. this evening in the Providence Public Library. Last night, trying to finally decide whether to attend or to train up to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My new blog at TB and PH

Posted on January 19, 2016 by David Brussat

My new blog is now up on the remodeled websites of two leading trade journals, Traditional Building and Period Homes,  published by the Home Group of Active Interest Media. The blog is called Architecture Old and New, a recasting of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments