Category Archives: Development

Garage design in Providence

So the most shovel-ready modernist abomination in Providence is apparently about to begin construction. Maybe it’s not too late to redesign the garage so that it fits into its setting. It is right next to a neoclassical power plant being … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Another classical courthouse

Tuscaloosa recently saw the completion of a beautiful classical courthouse, federal, that might have stepped directly off the Acropolis in Athens. Now Mobile, seems about to begin building a beautiful classical courthouse, also federal, designed by the Washington, D.C., firm … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Roses and raspberries, 2015

If the objective were to build beauty, the past year has served Providence poorly. Since the fault is mainly in the office of the new governor, Gina Raimondo, Providence’s mayor, Jorge Elorza, can be absolved of some of the blame, … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Preservation, Providence, Providence Journal, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Love at Providence Place

The evening of New Year’s Day, after seeing The Force Awakens at Providence Place with Victoria, Billy and friend Maria, all the shops were closed as we descended the escalator to the third level and strolled down the concourse, at … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Providence Journal, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Suburbia!” – the game!

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

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

This year’s icy ice hotel

Some perversity inspires me this morning (Merry Christmas! though it’s in the 60s) to take readers to the Ice Hotel at Jukkasjärvi, 200 miles North of the Arctic Circle. My wife, Victoria, has often expressed a desire to stay there, … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Humor, Photography, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Semes on Paris and our cities

Steven Semes, head of the Rome program for the school of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, and the author of The Future of the Past (one of my bibles) has written a long and, I am sure, brilliant … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Christmas card community

Tom Low responded to a request on TradArch from architect Steve Mouzon for comment, thumbs up or down, on a new neighborhood in Bentonville, Ark., featured in Architect magazine, voice of the AIA (which traditionally hates traditional architecture). Low replied … Continue reading

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

Lovely house on N.J. coast

David Rau has sent to TradArch his sketch of a house he has designed along the intercoastal waterway of New Jersey. I am assuming that the grayed-out structures to the left and the rear are the neighbors of the eventual … Continue reading

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‘Modernism’s back!’ said he!

Here’s a great addition to my collection of articles that damn modernism in its own defense. This one says pretty much the opposite of what the headline says and what the writer, David Hay, wants to believe. “Why Modernism Came … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Development | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments