Category Archives: Art and design

Podcast: Shubow on Gehry

Posted on August 10, 2015 by David Brussat

Here’s a podcast – a first on this blog – of Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, appearing on US Modernist Radio to denounce Frank Gehry’s design for a proposed modernist memorial to Frank— oops! I mean … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Humor, Landscape Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Shots of Westminster Street

Posted on August 8, 2015 by David Brussat

Victoria, Billy and I adventured to Westminster Street to see a friend, Elaine Ostrach Chaika, speak about her book, Humans, Dogs and Civilization, at a bookstore, Symposium Books. Afterwards, we walked up Westminster to Empire, where we dipped into the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Children and architecture

Posted on August 8, 2015 by David Brussat

Andres Duany has sent to TradArch a charming article, “Why Children Need Playhouses,” in the Wall Street Journal. Dale Hrabi describes his ramshackle playhouse behind his boyhood home in Alberta as a place to get away from his parents, how … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Art and design, Blast from past | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

De Botton contra Ionic Villa

Posted on August 7, 2015 by David Brussat

Above is a photo of a Palladian mansion in London’s Regent Park designed by Quinlan Terry, completed in 1990. It is really quite undeniably beautiful. Really? Undeniably? Well, maybe not quite. “We might expect the house,” writes critic Alain de … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A new design for Parcel 12

Posted on August 6, 2015 by David Brussat

The Capital Center Commission’s design-review panel took a look Tuesday morning at a pleasant, forthrightly classical hotel design presented by architect Eric Zuena, of ZDS, in Providence. There’s a lot to like in the new design for an eight-story extended-stay … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Shubow on WWI memorials

Posted on August 5, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is the latest column in Forbes magazine by Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, on the design competition for a monument to World War I: “First Look at the World War I Memorial Competition: All the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Art and design, Landscape Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Why can’t we recreate Bath?

Posted on August 4, 2015 by David Brussat

I am cruising through The Architecture of Happiness, wishing I had the time and energy to quote and then rebut its every line. Alain de Botton’s book is a masterpiece, but I have been forced to conclude that it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

De Botton cracks abstract

Posted on August 3, 2015 by David Brussat

Among the most cogent defenses of abstraction in art and architecture comes from Alain de Botton’s The Architecture of Happiness, which I am rereading. How does a building speak? How should people read houses? I have long believed that architecture … Continue reading →

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

Boston’s Olympic belly flop

Posted on August 1, 2015 by David Brussat

Boston’s Olympic belly flop has sent crocodile tears gushing down this critic’s soaking, heaving cheeks. The city’s withdrawal of its bid to host the 2024 Summer Games leaves your vitriolic correspondent bereft. An endless parade of proposals for modernist Bird’s … Continue reading →

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The sculpture of place

Posted on July 31, 2015 by David Brussat

Here are shots of the work of Matthew Simmonds, a British sculptor who lives in Pietrasanta, Italy. Beautiful! (Here is his website.) Hats off to Roy Lewis, who sent photos to the TradArch list, eliciting more sent by others. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments