Category Archives: Urbanism and planning

Browbeating Boston’s brand

Posted on December 13, 2014 by David Brussat

Marty Walsh has taken over as Boston mayor after 20 years of Tom Menino, who used to decide what sort of hat new buildings would wear – most famously, the “tiara” of a glitzy tower called R2-D2, near the Pru. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The Granoff showdown

Posted on December 11, 2014 by David Brussat

At Wednesday evening’s meeting of the Blackstone Neighborhood Organization, at the Central Congregational Church, some attendees reported they’d seen surveyors at the Granoff estate. This suggests that Paula and Leonard Granoff may attempt to complete their supposedly incomplete application for … Continue reading →

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Placemaking under siege

Posted on December 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Audun Engh, of INTBAU, the International Network of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, recently sent to TradArch readers an update by Ellie Violet Bramley on the work of Jan Gehl, the pioneer of city livability. Bramley’s article in the Guardian, … Continue reading →

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

Scruton on proportion

Posted on December 8, 2014 by David Brussat

As an advocate of classicism I’ve always been sort of absent without official leave from discussions of proportion. Perhaps that is because it involves mathematics, which I have tried to keep at arm’s length throughout my life. Thank God for … Continue reading →

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Hell and Helsinki

Posted on December 4, 2014 by David Brussat

The 1,715 entries to the international design competition for a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki have been winnowed down to six, an entirely predictable six. I must admit I have not finished my cruise through the original entries. I have informed … Continue reading →

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Don’t maul the Mall

Posted on December 2, 2014 by David Brussat

The National Mall in Washington has been undergoing renovation of its famous grass and the soil underneath. Decades of marches, concerts and festivals, not to mention the constant tramp, tramp, tramp of millions of tourists yearly on this hallowed ground … Continue reading →

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Another sharp eye . . . ?

Posted on November 29, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s a comment that just came in to the TradArch list by Andrès Duany. He helped found and has been the most active leader of the New Urbanism movement. Today, after winning the Driehaus Award of 2009, he is writing … Continue reading →

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Thanks for this parade!

Posted on November 27, 2014 by David Brussat

Thanks for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, that’s what I say. I have been watching it this afternoon, and after a while it occurred to me that NBC had placed every one of its cameras so that the backdrop for … Continue reading →

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Providence No. 1 U.S. city

Posted on November 24, 2014 by David Brussat

This is big, folks! Listen up! Travel + Leisure, the top magazine of its kind, has ranked Providence No. 1 in its list of best U.S. cities. “5 Reasons to Visit Providence” is here, and it is a joy to … Continue reading →

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South Street Seaputz?

Posted on November 21, 2014 by David Brussat

Why does no one seem upset that the venerable South Street Seaport, in New York City, is about to be zapped and tricked out as a squat Miesian glass box, courtesy of SHoP, one of the world’s worst architectural firms? … Continue reading →

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