Tag Archives: design

Redesign this awful garage!

Posted on July 17, 2015 by David Brussat

The proposed garage above is part of a project that is to feature a Rhode Island state nursing school housed in a Beaux-Arts former electric plant. South Street Landing, as the project is known, will also have offices for Brown … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Reverend, grace and Grace

Posted on July 15, 2015 by David Brussat

Had a very nice talk by phone with the Rev. Jonathan Huyck, of Grace Episcopal Church, and he assured me not just that nothing was set in cement regarding the design of a proposed new parish hall (possibly of glass), … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Propriety of prose and vase

Posted on June 13, 2015 by David Brussat

Laura Heery sent me a few pages from Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste, by Archibald Allison, published in 1832. Her communication arose from a discussion on Pro-Urb last month over the relationship of style to character in … Continue reading →

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A tale of two trophies

Posted on June 6, 2015 by David Brussat

American Pharoah won the Triple Crown today, the first horse in 37 years to sweep the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, and only the 12th to do so in the history of the Sport of Kings. What, … Continue reading →

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Style in words and buildings

Posted on May 9, 2015 by David Brussat

Andres Duany in his treatise Heterodoxia Architectonica engages the concept of classicism’s relation to language. Umberto Eco, in his On Literature, engages the concept of language’s relation to style. This blog is about the “style wars” of classicism versus modernism. In … Continue reading →

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Doric column on ArchiCAD

Posted on April 2, 2015 by David Brussat

I suppose that while everyone is discussing Le Corbusier, it may not be inappropriate to discuss in this corner another arguably deplorable machine, computer-aided design (CAD). John Margolis, the recently resigned president of the ICAA’s New England chapter who moved … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Art and design, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The architecture of dessert

Posted on March 7, 2015 by David Brussat

The resurgence of interest in Nathaniel Robert Walker’s essay on food and architecture, called “Architecture and food,” which ran here on Jan. 8, and the host of comments and, it seems, new followers of my blog it has inspired, has … Continue reading →

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Nuff said at Kennedy Plaza

Posted on February 8, 2015 by David Brussat

Above are the bicycle stands chosen for and installed at the “new” Kennedy Plaza, in Providence. Below are the bicycle stands approved (but not yet funded) for the city of Charleston. Which design represents the more advanced aesthetic?

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Design a living planet

Posted on February 5, 2015 by David Brussat

One of the delights of blogging is the ability to insert a couple of paragraphs from what you’re reading as you go along. So here’s another set, on pages 144-45, from Design for a Living Planet, by Nikos Salingaros and … Continue reading →

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Copy the past

Posted on October 17, 2014 by David Brussat

An article shedding light on the idea of copying the past has been published in The Washington Post. “Recognizing a revival in pattern books,” by Kirstin Downey, treats the construction of houses from pattern books with examples of really nice … Continue reading →

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