Category Archives: Development

Bad trad betters bad mod

Posted on May 23, 2016 by David Brussat

Another modernist building for Providence? Ugh! Here we go again. I could throw up my hands and settle with a sigh. After all, the crossroad that would host more blight, Washington Street and Service Road 7, is already marred by … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Tilden-Thurber memories

Posted on May 21, 2016 by David Brussat

The Tilden-Thurber Building, erected in 1895, designed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, of Boston, was sold last week but remains, so far as I can tell, as it was built, inside and out. Stanley Weiss, the local developer and fine … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Interior Design, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

See ‘High Rise’ film trailer

Posted on May 17, 2016 by David Brussat

Imagine my thrill at learning today that J.G. Ballard’s suspense novel, High-Rise, depicting what can come of the pressures that build up in the compressed psychosis of a modern residential tower, came out as a film in Britain last year, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Uncategorized, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Capt. Aubrey’s dad’s house

Posted on May 12, 2016 by David Brussat

I am on the seventh volume* of my fourth circumnavigation of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series of 21 novels, set during the Napoleonic Era. Much of it takes place between bouts of naval warfare, at home as an half-pay officer with … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Preservation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Shots of the Bulfinch gala!

Posted on May 11, 2016 by David Brussat

Here is a healthy selection of photos from the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art‘s recent Bulfinch Awards gala at the Harvard Club on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. The event was a rousing success because … Continue reading →

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Cantilevetravatecture!

Posted on May 9, 2016 by David Brussat

I made up that word to headline this post about “Cantilever Architecture,” a set of the world’s most ridiculous works in that category, including one (the last one) by Santiago Calatrava, part of whose last name helps form the word … Continue reading →

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

Krier: Politicians, take note

Posted on May 7, 2016 by David Brussat

Léon Krier, the architect, planner, theorist and master cartoonist who hails from Luxembourg, has called upon the European Union to build itself a new capital so that a way out of the world’s gathering problems might be forged. He says … Continue reading →

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Inside ProvModPedBridge

Posted on May 5, 2016 by David Brussat

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation has announced a slight advance in the schedule for getting design, bidding and construction of the modernist pedestrian bridge that will (?) link two parks and the east and west parcels of development land … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Development, Landscape Architecture, Providence, Providence Journal, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Scalia rules on Mudd Hall

Posted on May 4, 2016 by David Brussat

As if from the grave, the late Antonin Scalia has reached out to rule against the late Mudd Hall, at Washington University in St. Louis, replaced 19 years ago by a beautiful new law school building. Not unrelatedly, today would … Continue reading →

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My Jane Jacobs river tour

Posted on April 30, 2016 by David Brussat

Wednesday would be the 100th birthday of Jane Jacobs if she had not died in 2006. Saturday at 1 p.m. is my third tour of Providence’s new riverfront for Jane’s Walk, the international conspiracy to spread her urbanist wisdom around … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Providence, Providence Journal, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment