Category Archives: Other countries

Krier’s symphony for London

Posted on February 13, 2016 by David Brussat

On my first trip to London in 1979 I took in a classical performance of the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank embankment of the Thames. I felt the hall’s demerits as architecture even back … Continue reading →

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

The Schwäbisch Hall cure

Posted on February 11, 2016 by David Brussat

A German town of some 36,000 in population, Schwäbisch Hall was barely nicked by Allied bombing in World War II, and it shows. The medieval streetscapes in the photos here might well suggest the town as spa or cure for … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Bevan’s “modest revival”

Posted on February 8, 2016 by David Brussat

Last week, in “Zaha Hadid gets RIBA medal,” I wrote that Hadid complained about “a tilt toward tradition in London architecture that only she is able to perceive.” I was wrong. The British critic Robert Bevan sees it, too: a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Photographs of Lviv, Ukraine

Posted on February 4, 2016 by David Brussat

David Mittell, whose essay “Why I love Lviv” ran here on January 26, has sent some photographs to illustrate the various conditions of architecture in Lviv, which he characterizes – truly – as one of Europe’s most beautiful unknown cities. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Schumacher’s Pritzker feint

Posted on February 3, 2016 by David Brussat

Patrik Schumacher, who runs Zaha Hadid’s office and involves himself in the modernist discourse, has used his Facebook page to criticize the Pritzker jury’s choice of Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. His critique mimics his recent, widely condemned, critique of the … Continue reading →

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

BBC on Mont Saint-Michel

Posted on January 30, 2016 by David Brussat

Yesterday, I got an email from the author and director of a documentary on Mont Saint-Michel being produced for BBC France. Denis Sneguirev asked me whether I could provide him with information about the development of the abbey just off … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Other countries, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Out-of-country Cianci tale

Posted on January 29, 2016 by David Brussat

Buddy Cianci. RIP. Everyone in Providence has a Buddy story, and many will be told fondly following the death of Vincent A. Cianci Jr. yesterday. My Cianci story – this one, at least – involves a trip to Malta as … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Blast from past, Other countries, Preservation, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Plymouth after World War II

Posted on January 28, 2016 by David Brussat

Mark Motte, author with Francis Leazes of Providence: The Renaissance City, urged me to view an old documentary on video called “How We Live Now,” filmed in 1946, about the effort to rebuild Plymouth, the most heavily bombed city per … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Development, Other countries, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mittell: “Why I love Lviv”

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

David A. Mittell Jr., of Boston, has visited Lviv 22 times, some of them while he was on the editorial board of the Providence Journal, where I first met him. He now writes independently, after a stint as editor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Other countries, Preservation, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Brolin on vandalizing Yemen

Posted on January 22, 2016 by David Brussat

I have raised this subject many times as modern architecture works to wipe out indigenous cultures around the world. In his 1976 book The Failure of Modern Architecture, Brent Brolin provides a vivid account of the arrogance of modern architecture’s … Continue reading →

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