Tag Archives: Ann Sussman

In Albania, building as bust

Posted on August 5, 2022 by David Brussat

Here’s a new idea: the building as bust. I know where you think I am heading, but no, I’m not talking about the inevitable failure of modern architecture, I’m talking about a building designed to represent the head of a … Continue reading →

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Landscape urbanism revisited

Posted on August 25, 2021 by David Brussat

*** Not long ago, in response to my post “Steuteville’s public square,” a pile of emails and comments was generated by my query as to whether something called landscape urbanism still exists. One email called for another look at its … Continue reading →

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Plečnik capitals you can see

Posted on May 4, 2020 by David Brussat

Jože Plečnik may perhaps be deemed the Antoni Gaudi of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Or vice versa. Both shifted the character of their principal cities (Barcelona in Gaudi’s case) toward a more animated, innovative and yet entirely classical character. … Continue reading →

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Your face as face mask art

Posted on April 22, 2020 by David Brussat

Years ago, I urged Providence artists to create murals designed to look like the buildings on which they were painted. A façade with no windows could be painted to look like the rest of the building. Humans could be leaning … Continue reading →

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Eyed by Ranalli’s theater

Posted on April 15, 2020 by David Brussat

Do the citizens of Doylestown, Penn., feel as if the new addition to their theater is giving them the eye, following them closely as they walk by? Sort of like the Mona Lisa or some dark portrait of an old … Continue reading →

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Take Sussman’s fish test here

Posted on April 5, 2020 by David Brussat

Ann Sussman, the Concord, Mass., architect and researcher, asked me to take a test a few days ago. I was to look at a set of illustrations of fishes and note what my eyes do. I took her test, and … Continue reading →

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Parsing classical creativity

Posted on February 18, 2020 by David Brussat

The proposed executive order encouraging classical architecture for federal buildings in Washington and elsewhere, if adopted by President Trump, would replace Kennedy-era guidelines that have encouraged modern architecture for federal buildings since 1962. Enough time has passed to declare modern … Continue reading →

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The trenches of modernism

Posted on July 3, 2019 by David Brussat

Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school, died fifty years ago today. A new biography is out, Gropius: The Man Who Built the Bauhaus, by Fiona MacCarthy. Two major houses published it simultaneously, Faber & Faber in the U.K. … Continue reading →

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Seek the bottom of beauty

Posted on November 16, 2018 by David Brussat

The headline of Joanne Ostrow’s article in the Denver Sun got my attention: “Is Denver’s contemporary architecture killing us?” Leaving aside that Denverites are not the only victims of modern architecture, the answer offered to Ostrow by the subject of … Continue reading →

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Talk the talk on buildings

Posted on February 7, 2018 by David Brussat

An essay by Marianela D’Aprile, “What We Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Buildings,” on the website Common\Edge, gathers together some strands of discourse about architecture that I’ve posted on recently. Most particularly, I refer to a post called … Continue reading →

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