Category Archives: Urbanism and planning

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

Walker: “Babylon electrified”

Posted on November 2, 2015 by David Brussat

Nathaniel Robert Walker, whose essay on food and architecture many readers here recall fondly, has sent me another essay, this one entitled “Babylon Electrified: Oriental Hybridity as Futurism in Victorian Utopian Architecture.” The title may sound daunting but, as with … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Haunting if not haunted

Posted on October 31, 2015 by David Brussat

Now this is more like it. Here, courtesy of Mental Floss, are “26 Hauntingly Beautiful Photos of Abandoned Homes Across America,” houses that look haunted, that may be haunted. They are merely abandoned, and too bad! They are more the … Continue reading →

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

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

Into London’s age of grit

Posted on October 24, 2015 by David Brussat

It suddenly occurred to me that, having done a post on the beautiful Renaissance digital imagery of the video game “Assassin’s Creed II” – it was called “Gaming the Renaissance” – I should check out “Assassin’s Creed I.” I just … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Blast from past, Book/Film Reviews, Other countries, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

“Unfinished New York”

Posted on October 22, 2015 by David Brussat

The journal Places has a long and fascinating essay by Belmont Freeman (a New York name for you!) called “Unfinished New York.” He is a columnist for Places and an architect in private practice in the city, no doubt a … Continue reading →

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

“Never fear, Prov. is here!”

Posted on October 20, 2015 by David Brussat

Apropos of apparently nothing in particular beyond the sheer deliciousness of it, the Providence Journal’s longtime food critic Gail Ciampa wrote a piece in today’s paper on movies where Rhode Island scenery shines. “Check it out: Five Hollywood movies that … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Book/Film Reviews, Humor, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fie on a million years!

Posted on October 18, 2015 by David Brussat

For his latest piece in CityLab, “Making the Case for Symmetrical Cities,” peripatetic architecture critic Anthony Flint, housed at the Lincoln Institute in Cambridge, does a very nice job adding up the evidence for the superiority of classical and traditional … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments