Tag Archives: engineering

Max building fail in Miami

Posted on June 25, 2021 by David Brussat

Aside from expressing sorrow and dismay, it is too early to say anything definitive about the beachfront building collapse in Surfside, Fla., north of Miami. The 12-story Champlain Towers condominiums opened in 1981 with 136 apartments. About half of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Modernist luxury mall fall

Posted on July 20, 2018 by David Brussat

Beautiful building, eh? Well, you won’t have to look at it anymore after viewing this video. The mall collapsed in Mexico City on July 12, some four months after opening amid controversy, said by the Associated Press to have involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

J&W’s engineering error

Posted on September 1, 2016 by David Brussat

Johnson & Wales University is about to open up its new engineering facility, named for its chancellor, John Bowen. It will be the first building on land vacated by the relocation of Route 195 to the south of downtown. Providence … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Cantilevetravatecture!

Posted on May 9, 2016 by David Brussat

I made up that word to headline this post about “Cantilever Architecture,” a set of the world’s most ridiculous works in that category, including one (the last one) by Santiago Calatrava, part of whose last name helps form the word … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Humor, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tip me over! Faster! Faster!

Posted on February 26, 2016 by David Brussat

A proposed new megatower is planned in China’s Pearl River delta. The city is not named in either the Curbed or the Building Design & Construction articles, perhaps because the city will not exist until the building is finished. It … Continue reading →

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

Brown attacks College Hill

Posted on December 13, 2015 by David Brussat

Four excellent old houses disappeared, poof!, from the Brown campus in recent weeks. In “New campus for Brown engineering?” I protested their proposed demise in a column in 2014. Now the design for what is to replace them has been … Continue reading →

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

Knockdown knockabout

Posted on August 14, 2014 by David Brussat

Many years ago, no later than the mid-90s, I was invited by Providence Preservation Society director Arnold Robinson to sit in on a meeting of the facilities planning staffs of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. By … Continue reading →

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Column: New campus for Brown engineering?

Posted on August 14, 2014 by David Brussat

Brown University’s School of Engineering is the oldest engineering program in the Ivy League, begun in 1847, and the third oldest in the country. Brown plans to build a new main engineering building on College Hill, in Providence. The university … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Column: “The Rise and Fall of Penn Station”

Posted on February 13, 2014 by David Brussat

Before Pennsylvania Station opened in 1910, travelers headed for New York on the Pennsylvania Railroad, owned by the largest company in the world, had to debark in New Jersey and cross the Hudson River by ferry to Manhattan. It’s hard … Continue reading →

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Blast from past: Review of Millais’s “Exploding …”

Posted on January 11, 2014 by David Brussat

I’ve mentioned Malcolm Millais’s Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture several times in recent posts. Malcolm, a Brit who lives in Portugal, has sent innumerable nuggets that have helped me push this blog over the edge for years. He is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past, Book/Film Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments