Tag Archives: Frank Gehry

WWI’s monumental sorrow

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

The National World War II Memorial opened in 2004 on the Mall with a classical design that has been wildly popular with WWII veterans. Had America regained its senses after decades of embarrassing modernist monuments? Alas, no. A nontraditional memorial … Continue reading →

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One of Fallows’s small cities?

Posted on March 29, 2018 by

James Fallows, a longtime writer for The Atlantic, gave the keynote address at today’s Power of Place Summit, held every couple of years by Grow Smart Rhode Island, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. With wife Deborah, Fallows has written … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Still allowed to like Meier?

Posted on March 14, 2018 by

I had absolutely no idea, two weeks ago when I wrote my post “Ha ha ha ha! Seriously?,” that its two subjects, Pritzker Prize architect Richard Meier and the late female architect Natalie de Blois, are connected. No, de Blois … Continue reading →

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Each state’s “ne plus ugly”

Posted on January 22, 2018 by

Architecture is a form of art. When a city constructs a new building, it should add beauty to its streetscape. The above quote, unattributed, introduces an article in MSN.com’s Business Insider entitled “The Ugliest Building in Every US State, According … Continue reading →

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Trads must step up game

Posted on January 8, 2018 by

While channel hopping a couple weeks ago, just before Christmas, I landed on C-Span and discovered to my horror I was watching a live broadcast of the groundbreaking for Frank Gehry’s memorial to Frank Gehry – oops, I mean Dwight … Continue reading →

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“Let’s you and him fight!”

Posted on January 5, 2018 by

That was my first reaction to this essay by Aaron Betsky criticizing Rem Koolhaas, two icons of modernism. In “The BASEST form of architecture,” Betsky takes aim at Koolhaas’s installation (meaning a temporary gallery) in what may be the world’s … Continue reading →

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Frank Gehry’s H.M.S. Foggy

Posted on December 23, 2017 by

Not sure why I’ve decided to inflict on readers this old post from October 2015 on the day before the day before Christmas. It came to mind after a reader, intent on humoring me or torturing me, sent me a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and design, Humor, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Goldberger & Goldhagen

Posted on October 12, 2017 by

The Nation magazine has a review by Paul Goldberger of a book by Sarah Williams Goldhagen, also a respected architecture critic, called Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives. Goldberger’s review, “A Shimmery Cube,” applauds Goldhagen … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Carbuncle Cup victor of 2017

Posted on September 12, 2017 by

This year’s Carbuncle Cup, awarded annually (three years now) to the worst new building in Britain, goes to a development called Nova Victoria, so called because it is what you see when you emerge from the Victoria Station tube stop. … Continue reading →

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More Hayes on beauty

Posted on July 27, 2017 by

British Transport Minister John Hayes’s remarks about beauty and transit infrastructure were quoted on Tuesday in “Sic transit beautiful? Not!” It is brilliant, but I had intended to post instead the full text of “Hayes’s speech on beauty,” a different … Continue reading →

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