Category Archives: Art and design

The new brand of France!

Posted on October 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Above is Frank Gehry laughing all the way to the bank. His latest paean to his genius sits in the background, which happens to be the Bois de Boulogne, the vast park at the western edge of central Paris. Soon … Continue reading →

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A liturgy of beauty

Posted on October 13, 2014 by David Brussat

Ah, the sun is edging its way through the clouds here in Providence. Patches of blue can be seen from the window beside the desk of your occasionally dire correspondent. So on to a passage sure to soothe the savage … Continue reading →

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S.F.’s Moscone Centergate

Posted on October 12, 2014 by David Brussat

It’s been a while since I had a good excuse to take my nickname for Diller Scofidio + Renfro out for a walk. Dildo Scrofulous + Rent Free. And I did bring my pooper scooper! We last heard from the … Continue reading →

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Fundamentally insecure

Posted on October 3, 2014 by David Brussat

After reading my blog post on the destruction of Mecca, Nikos Salingaros sent me Chapter 9 from his book A Theory of Architecture, in which, writing with Michael Mehaffy, he describes modern architecture as a phenomenon parallel to religious fundamentalism. … Continue reading →

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Steven Semes on Henry Reed

Posted on October 1, 2014 by David Brussat

Steven Semes, author of The Future of the Past and the newly appointed chairman of the new graduate preservation program at the architecture school of the University of Notre Dame, was supposed to speak at Saturday’s symposium honoring Henry Hope … Continue reading →

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Henry Reed’s Philadelphia II

Posted on September 30, 2014 by David Brussat

Here are more shots from Philadelphia, not all of which will be strictly to the taste of Henry Hope Reed, the honoree of a symposium held at the Franklin Inn Club there on Saturday. The photo above shows the late … Continue reading →

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Column: A Henry Hope Reed chrestomathy

Posted on September 25, 2014 by David Brussat

One of my favorite books is A Mencken Chrestomathy, H.L. Mencken’s own favorite essays by himself (a chrestomathy being a selection of choice literary passages, often intended to teach a language). Reading Mencken, who wrote for the Baltimore Sun in … Continue reading →

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Hawthorne and architecture

Posted on September 22, 2014 by David Brussat

In his masterpiece (and my bible) The Golden City (1959), Henry Hope Reed cites a character, Holgrave, from Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, in describing early attitudes toward innovation in architecture. He has Holgrave, a daguerrotypist, say to his inamorata, … Continue reading →

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Issa beats wimp rap?

Posted on September 20, 2014 by David Brussat

I may have to retract Rep. Darrell Issa’s Cosmic Wimp-Out Prize, doled out by this blog just a week or so ago. My original post, “Ike memorial update,” described the latest iteration of Frank Gehry’s proposed memorial to General Eisenhower. … Continue reading →

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Column: Scotland back to its roots or nae

Posted on September 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Scottish voters decide today whether Scotland will be independent or continue its 307-year relationship with Great Britain. Whatever it decides – and the last polls were too close to call – its cultural hegemony over its own appearance will remain … Continue reading →

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