Category Archives: Urbanism and planning

Hard to build unnatural park

The parks committee of the Route 195 Redevelopment District Commission met yesterday afternoon to hear WaterFire generalissimo Barnaby Evans urge, late in the design process, that the western end of the proposed pedestrian bridge be raised to let the river … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Landscape styles at war

” ‘Now there’ said he, pointing his finger, ‘I make a comma, and there’ pointing to another spot, ‘where a more decided turn is proper, I make a colon; at another part, where an interruption is desirable to break the … Continue reading

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Choo-choo afternoon

Spent an hour at the model train show in the Pawtucket Armory on Sunday afternoon. Superlative setups, though not as many as we had hoped, and most were linear, with mostly HO-scale trains choo-choo’ing up and down long, narrow platforms … Continue reading

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Patrick Conley’s waterfront

Here is the column I refer to in my last post, “The lady on the waterfront“: Pat Conley’s educational wharf Sept. 29, 2005 STATE PIER No. 1 might be called the Ellis Island of the Ocean State. It was the … Continue reading

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The lady on the waterfront

In her chapter “The curse of border vacuums” in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs considered waterfronts a potential assassin of liveliness in city districts, not intrinsically so but because they were often poorly used. But … Continue reading

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Column: Kennedy Plaza’s future spins its wheels

Standing on the steps in front of City Hall, several people waited for a tour of Kennedy Plaza to begin, followed by a public discussion of its future. We wondered why the front doors of so many important Providence public … Continue reading

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Kennedy Plaza reminder

Wednesday’s tour of Kennedy Plaza and panel discussion of its future, sponsored by the New England chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism, is described below: Vision for Greater Kennedy Plaza: Walkabout and Panel Providence, Rhode Island Wednesday, October … Continue reading

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Trad clearinghouse?

How about a clearinghouse for traditional projects? Prompted by a conversation this morning with the Washington, D.C., architect and planner Nir Buras, I am thinking of starting a new blog, associated with this ol’ Architecture Here and There blog, where … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Parcel 12 revisited

The Carpionato Group has sent me two images of its 2006 design for a proposed hotel at the northeast corner of Kennedy Plaza that fell through. It is of interest because a new hotel proposal, by First Bristol Corp. of … Continue reading

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KP discombobulation

Here is a piece about Kennedy Plaza by Brandon Klayko for archpaper.com. Donald Powers, founder of Union Studio Architects and designer of the very nice master plan, above, for Kennedy Plaza proposed in 2013, was clearly the author’s primary source … Continue reading

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