Category Archives: Books and Culture

Still, his buildings were fine

Posted on January 2, 2016 by David Brussat

Reaching the end of Louis Sullivan’s Autobiography of an Idea, I could only wish that his place in architectural history was judged more by his buildings and less by what he wrote about architecture. Most of the book consists of … Continue reading →

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Sullivan on the classical

Posted on December 29, 2015 by David Brussat

About halfway through his Autobiography of an Idea, Louis Sullivan begins to discuss architecture. He is at MIT, circa 1872. He writes in the third person. Here he receives the received wisdom on classicism: Louis had gone at his studies … Continue reading →

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“Suburbia!” – the game!

Posted on December 28, 2015 by David Brussat

I added both exclamation points, with full ironic intent. The game Suburbia? How about let’s play another game, Traffic Jam! (exclamation added). There are city-building games already, so why in heaven’s name a suburbia-building game? Maybe it’s a sort of … Continue reading →

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Twisted Sisters Prize of 2015

Posted on December 17, 2015 by David Brussat

Architecture Here and There awards its first annual Twisted Sisters prize to critics Mark Lamster of the Dallas Morning News and Alexandra Lange of Curbed for their pairing off to produce “Architecture in Review 2015: The Good, the Bad and … Continue reading →

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Beethoven’s architecture

Posted on December 17, 2015 by David Brussat

Beethoven’s birthday was yesterday. He would have been 245 years old. Today is the anniversary of his baptism, the day after his birth. A vagueness of timing, however, did not fit into the architecture of his music. Goethe called architecture … Continue reading →

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Henry Hope Reed at 100

Posted on December 12, 2015 by David Brussat

Henry Hope Reed died three years short of his 100th year. He was born in 1915, but the fact that I overlooked his 100th birthday on Sept. 25 doesn’t mean it cannot be celebrated in a sufficiently timely manner today. … Continue reading →

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Kitsch or not too kitsch?

Posted on November 28, 2015 by David Brussat

The question of kitsch has arisen often in discussions of architecture. A house whose classical portico is not backed up by the orders in the rest of its makeup might be kitsch. Or a house whose classical portico is backed … Continue reading →

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Why Angry Birds are angry

Posted on November 26, 2015 by David Brussat

You think the three television networks are the same? Not so! Last year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was broadcast by NBC and this year CBS got the job. What a difference a network makes! So yes, the Angry Birds have … Continue reading →

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What is architecture about?

Posted on November 25, 2015 by David Brussat

Stephen Fry, celebrated British actor and humorist best known on this side of the pond for his portrayal of Jeeves, manservant to Bertie Wooster in the TV series Jeeves and Wooster, published his first novel, Liar, in 1991, which also … Continue reading →

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Descent from red to green

Posted on November 22, 2015 by David Brussat

This “charming” video is difficult to resist, and will resonate, perhaps, with drivers everywhere, especially in big cities. Although I myself am strikingly immune to the phenomenon of road rage, driving in Providence seems to grow increasingly akin to the … Continue reading →

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