Tag Archives: Ann Sussman

Modern architecture is crazy

Posted on January 28, 2018 by David Brussat

Among the most recent revelations of science in the service of architecture is that three of the most eminent founders of modern architecture suffered from mental illness. Le Corbusier was on the autism spectrum while Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies … Continue reading →

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Even Soviets hated mods!

Posted on January 14, 2018 by David Brussat

Ann Sussman, the architect/scientist whose neurobiological research has pinned down mental illness as a factor in modern architecture, sent me a video by a Russian cartoonist in 1976. It shows that even amid the official dominance of modernism under Stalin, … Continue reading →

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Our eyes poke back at mods

Posted on November 29, 2017 by David Brussat

A thrilling new report on how biometric technologies assess human taste in architecture was published yesterday on Common/Edge. As I’ve said before, good on C/E for running an essay, as it occasionally does, that refrains from trashing new traditional architecture, … Continue reading →

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Millais vs. Le Corbusier

Posted on November 5, 2017 by David Brussat

Malcolm Millais, the author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture, has written Le Corbusier, the Dishonest Architect, brought out in Britain by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is a brave book and a necessary book, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Old mods hard-wired to ugly

Posted on August 23, 2017 by David Brussat

The two buildings above say all that needs to be said, really, about why traditional architecture is superior to modern architecture. Still, it is crucial to understand why modern architecture emerged in the first half of the last century, and … Continue reading →

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Perils of architecture school

Posted on June 12, 2017 by David Brussat

Common/Edge is a website about architecture. All of the essays are written well, but many seem to try to have it both ways about the battle over style in architecture. So I’m not quite sure how Prof. Nikos Salingaros managed … Continue reading →

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Classicism’s relevance today

Posted on April 7, 2017 by David Brussat

The Boston Design Center in the city’s Innovation District hosted a panel today, as part of Boston Design Week, on the relevance of classicism in contemporary design. All five panelists agreed that yes, classicism is still relevant. Classicism has a … Continue reading →

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Sussman on Corbu’s autism

Posted on March 1, 2017 by David Brussat

One reason people prefer traditional to modern architecture is that their eyes literally refuse to look at blank walls. Shown a picture of a building with a blank wall, the eye of an observer will linger anywhere – on a … Continue reading →

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The eye, the mind, the heart

Posted on February 17, 2017 by David Brussat

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so sayeth just about everyone, but how does the mind influence what the eye of the beholder sees? If the eye informs the brain and the brain informs the taste, then there … Continue reading →

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Facing the faces in facades

Posted on October 12, 2016 by David Brussat

Most architects don’t get it. The brain is hardwired to prefer traditional buildings over modernist buildings because building facades with more things going on – windows and doors clearly marked, ornament and detail at a range of scales – make … Continue reading →

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