Category Archives: Urbanism and planning

Surprised and astonished

Posted on September 11, 2015 by David Brussat

One of the pet peeves of Michael Gross in his Rogues’ Gallery, a history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is how long it took its board’s stuffed shirts to accept modern art into its collection. Here is an amusing … Continue reading →

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

Rip facade off mod angst

Posted on September 10, 2015 by David Brussat

Very interesting chat in the Guardian, “Should Britain’s ‘worst building’ be torn down?” with its art critic Jonathan Jones and Design Museum director Deyan Sudjik debating the future of the recent winner of the Carbuncle Cup, the Walkie-Talkie building, and … Continue reading →

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

Style vs. form balderdash

Posted on September 7, 2015 by David Brussat

Justin Shubow, the provocative head of the National Civic Art Society, has posted a segment from a 1996 book review by the late Paul Malo of Roger Scruton’s The Classical Vernacular: Architecture in a Time of Nihilism, which I recently … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

First critique in Pawtucket

Posted on September 6, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is one of my earliest columns about a design competition, in this case to renovate an old department store into a visitors center for the City of Pawtucket. *** Promoting a Peerless Pawtucket December 4, 1992 IN PAWTUCKET, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Preservation, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A day at the dragon races!

Posted on September 6, 2015 by David Brussat

For three years running we had just missed the dragon-boat races at the annual Pawtucket Arts Festival. This year we made it, and boy did we have fun! We saw contestants slam their cheeks pink in a watermelon-face-splat contest. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Betsky bags Times Square

Posted on September 3, 2015 by David Brussat

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has stirred a crisis by suggesting that he might remove the seating from Times Square and give it back to automotive traffic. The problem is that ladies with the breasts painted fabulous colors parade … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Landscape Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Carbuncle Cup antidote

Posted on September 2, 2015 by David Brussat

Here are some photos taken just days ago by Michael Gerhardt, former interim director of the Providence Athenaeum and longtime skipper of the Pandion, anchored in Bristol. He and his wife just returned from a holiday in London and sent … Continue reading →

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

Carbuncle Cup conundrum

Posted on September 2, 2015 by David Brussat

In Britain the Carbuncle Cup goes to the ugliest building of the year. The name recalls Prince Charles’s famous and much-beloved line, “a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-beloved and elegant friend,” that he applied to a proposed … Continue reading →

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

Hurricane season thoughts

Posted on August 31, 2015 by David Brussat

As we remember Hurricane Katrina, sigh in relief at Tropical Storm Erika, which took lives in the Caribbean before dissipating south of Florida, worry about Hurricane Fred as it threatens Cape Verde in the Atlantic, and ponder the three hurricanes … Continue reading →

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Catesby Leigh’s WWI faves

Posted on August 29, 2015 by David Brussat

The Washington critic Catesby Leigh has an excellent write-up of the World War I memorial designs in the National Review, “National World War I Memorial: The Judges Got It Wrong.” He mentions two proposals that were entered but for various … Continue reading →

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