Tag Archives: Design Review

‘Ask Dr. Downtown’ revisited

In my last post, “Modern Diner, USModernist,” I promised USModernist talk host George Smart (aka Mr. Modernism) to send him an example of my old “Ask Dr. Downtown” columns, from when I did a column of architecture criticism every Thursday … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Bad trad betters bad mod

Another modernist building for Providence? Ugh! Here we go again. I could throw up my hands and settle with a sigh. After all, the crossroad that would host more blight, Washington Street and Service Road 7, is already marred by … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Trying to like this building

Capital Properties has proposed and the Capital Center Commission has apparently approved the design above for the parcel next to the almost supernaturally ugly Capital Cove, on land at Canal and Smith streets along the Moshassuck River. Here is what … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

To guide or not to guide?

Above is a photograph of construction under way for apartments in the Cherry Creek North district of Denver. Is the glass-and-steel structure to the right part of the project or does it just abut the project? Either way, it casts … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Latest projects in Providence

Above are two maps of Providence before and after the relocation of Route 195, opening up about 40 acres for development between downtown and the Jewelry District. Toward the top of the map you can see the Providence River curve … Continue reading

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

A new design for Parcel 12

The Capital Center Commission’s design-review panel took a look Tuesday morning at a pleasant, forthrightly classical hotel design presented by architect Eric Zuena, of ZDS, in Providence. There’s a lot to like in the new design for an eight-story extended-stay … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Lovely N’Awlins proposal

Michael Rouchell, a New Orleans architect who frequently participates in the TradArch conversation, sent this design of his for an apartment building there. In allure, it is far and away beyond anything that has been proposed in Providence for decades. … Continue reading

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Karam at Triangle Gulch

James Karam, head of First Bristol Corp., walked into a buzz saw on Tuesday morning when he showed his proposed design for an extended-stay hotel in downtown Providence to the design review committee of the Capital Center Commission. Karam’s proposal … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

(Repost) Waterplace wig-out

A couple more examples of initial design proposals for buildings in Waterplace Park should suffice to nail down the veracity of the idea that a perverse hand was directing the Capital Center Commission and its design review panel in the … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment