Category Archives: Development

Stewardship at Downton

Posted on February 1, 2015 by David Brussat

Steve Lawton sent to the Practice of New Urbanism list a few choice lines about recent scenes from Downton Abbey. He notes the care with which an aristocrat addresses the proposals of a developer, circa 1922 (I think), to build … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Times eyes Charleston

Posted on January 30, 2015 by David Brussat

The ship of state is famously hard to turn. One oped criticizing modern architecture does not a candidate for membership in the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art make. The New York Times remains a stalwart of the establishment on … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Kennedy Plaza reopens

Posted on January 20, 2015 by David Brussat

Kennedy Plaza reopened this morning. Bus passengers are waiting in the newly sanitized bus hub. The view above shows the blank sterility achieved by its redesign. Wind-swept vastnesses of unused space greet us now, no longer the elegant Art Nouveau … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Survey: Your preferred row

Posted on January 15, 2015 by David Brussat

Matthew Johnson, writing in ArchDaily of the furor aroused by the recent Bingler/Pedersen oped in the New York Times, the response by Aaron Betsky as mouthpiece of the American Institute of Architects, and the tart wrap-up of the brouhaha by … Continue reading →

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Brewer rocks in Fayetteville

Posted on January 13, 2015 by David Brussat

Gary Brewer of RAMSA designed a beautiful new wing for an old academic building, the Honors College (imagine that!) at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville a while back and I am remiss to have allowed readers to wait so … Continue reading →

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Milwaukee ex-mayor on 195

Posted on January 13, 2015 by David Brussat

I am gratified to post the comment of former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, who revitalized the city’s downtown in the 1990s before spending a decade, I think, as president of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Responding to my post … Continue reading →

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By the book on the 195 land

Posted on January 13, 2015 by David Brussat

The front page of the Providence Journal today shows an architect with a pasteboard rendering of the new student housing he has proposed for the Route 195 Redevelopment District. It could have been swiped right from the 195 commission’s Toolkit … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Providence’s ‘renaissance’

Posted on January 12, 2015 by David Brussat

The scalawag bugbear of an agitator Mary Ann Sorrentino on Sunday deplored downtown Providence in her Journal oped, “Walking through our moribund ‘renaissance’ city.” She describes strolling through town describing its former delights to her granddaughter. You can see the … Continue reading →

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Mayors and modernism

Posted on January 7, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is a column I wrote back on May 22, 2008, just after Boris Johnson’s election as mayor of London. At the time there was good news coming from the mouths of mayors in Italy and Czechoslovakia as well. Rome … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past, Development, Other countries, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Simon Jenkins contra Boris

Posted on January 6, 2015 by David Brussat

This piece in London’s Evening Standard by Simon Jenkins may lack the flair of Rowan Moore’s denunciation of the Walkie-Talkie in the Observer (I assure you that Jenkins is quite capable of summoning that flair). But Jenkins takes aim at … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Other countries, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments