Category Archives: Development

Zum! Zum! Zum! Zumthor!

Posted on November 10, 2015 by David Brussat

The forces of architecture in Los Angeles are clashing over the latest proposal, by Swiss architect and Pritzker prizewinner Peter Zumthor, for the new LACMA. What is the LACMA? A lengthy critique of an even lengthier critique of Zumthor’s design … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dorothy in “Renderland”

Posted on November 9, 2015 by David Brussat

Given the apparent difficulty architects have designing places that improve rather than undermine their settings, I was amused at the crie de coeur from art critic Mary Louise Schumacher of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about the figures – known in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Eviscerating Edinburgh

Posted on November 8, 2015 by David Brussat

The iconic photograph of Edinburgh, above, testifies to what Scotland’s capital and leading city have to lose in a recent rush to development. The United Nations agency that oversees its World Heritage Cities program, UNESCO, has been asked to remove … Continue reading →

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

“Rightsizing” Providence

Posted on November 6, 2015 by David Brussat

The King’s Cathedral, a church in Olneyville whose motto is “Where Everyone Is Royalty,” and its leader Bishop Jeffrey Williams hosted the inaugural session of this year’s “Beyond Buildings” symposium of the Providence Preservation Society. “Beyond Buildings” rubs me wrong, … Continue reading →

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

Nat’s natural advocacy op

Posted on November 5, 2015 by David Brussat

The American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, has announced plans to build an addition that would fill up the lovely garden space known as Theodore Roosevelt Park, where Billy, Victoria and I sojourned for half an hour … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Misconstruing “starchitect”

Posted on November 3, 2015 by David Brussat

Kriston Capps’s piece for CityLab, “Leave Starchitects Alone,” is filled with so much hooey that I am embarrassed to be inflicting it on my readers. It is part of the continuing effort to tar opposition to modern architecture as partisan … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Loopy inSANAA “River”

Posted on November 3, 2015 by David Brussat

My life as a reporter of architectural design review proceedings has over-taxed my ocular muscularity. My eyeballs roll furiously whenever an architect declares that his building’s “remarkable transparency” allows it to give “new meaning to the concept of ‘blending in.’” … Continue reading →

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

Rhode Island turning point

Posted on October 30, 2015 by David Brussat

Rhode Island is at a turning point. Going forward it can encourage new development that strengthens its brand of beauty or it can throw away a competitive advantage by allowing developers to build projects that will transform the Ocean State … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, I-195 Redevelopment District, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

BIMBY: Beauty here, too!

Posted on October 28, 2015 by David Brussat

BIMBY stands for Beauty In My Back Yard. It is a website launched by the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community – Prince Charles’s architectural shop in Great Britain. Even though Britain has tougher official laws against beauty there than we … Continue reading →

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

Handsome rectangular box?

Posted on October 23, 2015 by David Brussat

I had hoped to remain mum to “Brown’s handsome rectangular box,” as the headline over my friend William Morgan’s piece in the Providence Journal describes the university’s latest foray into the avant garde. Not very far into it, Morgan shrugs, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments