Category Archives: Art and design

Architecture is qualiadelic

Posted on December 6, 2014 by David Brussat

My brother, who lives in Oregon, has just published a book. It delves into the most intimate and profound aspects of ritual, and how engaging with one’s own patterns of ritual creatively can improve one’s life, and open one’s mind … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Book/Film Reviews | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Scruton’s lonely candlestick

Posted on December 6, 2014 by David Brussat

Roger Scruton’s 1995 collection of essays, The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, begins with an essay, “Reflections on a Candlestick,” in which he describes an objet d’art sitting in a Brutalist conference room: My eye came … Continue reading →

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Hell and Helsinki

Posted on December 4, 2014 by David Brussat

The 1,715 entries to the international design competition for a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki have been winnowed down to six, an entirely predictable six. I must admit I have not finished my cruise through the original entries. I have informed … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Other countries, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Don’t maul the Mall

Posted on December 2, 2014 by David Brussat

The National Mall in Washington has been undergoing renovation of its famous grass and the soil underneath. Decades of marches, concerts and festivals, not to mention the constant tramp, tramp, tramp of millions of tourists yearly on this hallowed ground … Continue reading →

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Thanks for this parade!

Posted on November 27, 2014 by David Brussat

Thanks for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, that’s what I say. I have been watching it this afternoon, and after a while it occurred to me that NBC had placed every one of its cameras so that the backdrop for … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Quoins on the shop floor

Posted on November 24, 2014 by David Brussat

There are many categories of architecture porn. (I hasten to say that’s a good thing.) One of my favorites is long lists in prose of ornamentation. So I was, shall we say, charmed to read architect Joel Pidel’s recent thread … Continue reading →

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Providence No. 1 U.S. city

Posted on November 24, 2014 by David Brussat

This is big, folks! Listen up! Travel + Leisure, the top magazine of its kind, has ranked Providence No. 1 in its list of best U.S. cities. “5 Reasons to Visit Providence” is here, and it is a joy to … Continue reading →

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Wisdom of the Bulfinch

Posted on November 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Last week I attended the fifth annual ceremony at Charles Bulfinch’s Massachusetts Statehouse honoring the awards named in his honor by the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The usual crowd of people was there … Continue reading →

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Nouvel but not novel

Posted on November 17, 2014 by David Brussat

There is nothing unique, these days, about an architect who loves to throw ugliness in the eye of the world. There is nothing novel, alas, in architecture by those who keen to a sado-masochist ethic. I refer to Jean Nouvel, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Don’t feed the hypotenuse!

Posted on November 15, 2014 by David Brussat

A Dagwood, the skyscaper of sandwiches, cannot be cut in half, however you slice it. But this intriguing piece, “Rectangles vs. Triangles: The Great Sandwich Debate,” from “All Things Considered” on NPR (with no author listed), slices and dices the … Continue reading →

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