Category Archives: Urbanism and planning

Column: No need for preservation veto on 195

Posted on June 26, 2014 by David Brussat

Should Rhode Island’s state office of historic preservation have a veto over the design of buildings proposed for the land I once described as a “sandbox for the modernists”? Yes, it should. But no, it shouldn’t. A memorandum of agreement … Continue reading →

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Modernism in retreat?

Posted on June 23, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is an e-mail sent by architect Marc Szarkowski to the TradArch listserv’s discussion thread, “CNU is burning,” about modernism being invited further into New Urbanism at its recent conference in Buffalo. Marc disagrees, and though I’m not buying into … Continue reading →

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Column: Bill Warner, due diligence and history

Posted on June 19, 2014 by David Brussat

The Rhode Island Senate has passed legislation, Senate Bill No. 2255, to rename State Bridge No. 1181 — known as the Providence River Bridge — as the William D. Warner Memorial Bridge. Perhaps, in the waning days of this session … Continue reading →

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What young people want

Posted on June 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Jenny Bevan, of the Charleston, S.C., architecture firm Bevan & Liberatos, has written a brilliant critique of the proposed new building for the Clemson University school of architecture in the historic section of Charleston. Bevan is a graduate of both … Continue reading →

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Cayalá coming along

Posted on June 18, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s a detailed report from INTBAU, the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism, on Cayalá, the new traditional town in Guatemala. Its master plan was the work of Lèon Krier and the major civic building, its Athenaeum, was designed … Continue reading →

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Renzo Piano, constrained

Posted on June 18, 2014 by David Brussat

A friend sent me from HuffPost this image of a new “building” in Paris by starchitect Renzo Piano (what a name!), sure that it would raise my dander sky high. But while the structure certainly confirms the stupidity of modern architecture, … Continue reading →

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Human scale in Providence

Posted on June 16, 2014 by David Brussat

Tonight I saw the documentary The Human Scale, about the work of Jan Gehl, a Dane who has sought, as I put it in last night’s post, to undo some of the damage done by modernism to the space between … Continue reading →

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The Providence conference

Posted on June 15, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is an e-mail I posted just now to the TradArch and Pro-Urb listservs, discussion groups that have for three or four days now been chewing on my last column, “Modernism invades New Urbanism,” along with architect David Rau’s cri … Continue reading →

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See ‘The Human Scale’

Posted on June 14, 2014 by David Brussat

That is a documentary film about the work of Jan Gehl, a Danish architect whose idea of “Life Between Buildings” encapsulates his desire, apparently, to undo some of the harm that modern planning and design have done to cities over … Continue reading →

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Blast: Memories of Seaside

Posted on June 11, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is a column I did after visiting Seaside, Fla., the first showcase project of the Congress for the New Urbanism: If only we could clone Seaside December 13, 2001 SEASIDE, Fla. JAMES KUNSTLER writes of approaching Seaside, on Florida’s … Continue reading →

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