Tag Archives: Michael Mehaffy

Dull (not!) parody of Dwell

Posted on December 23, 2016 by David Brussat

Michael Mehaffy, the urbanist creator of the Sustasis Foundation, in Portland, Ore., has sent a divine parody of a Dwell magazine cover to his friends on the TradArch list. I offer it to my own friends and readers for (fill … Continue reading →

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Alexander’s classical tent

Posted on October 23, 2016 by David Brussat

Christopher Alexander – well known for his Pattern Language, his four-volume The Nature of Order, and for his research on the natural creation of form in architecture and digital technology – wrote an excellent open letter to members of the … Continue reading →

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How to keep Portland weird

Posted on May 31, 2016 by David Brussat

Portland, Ore., is a city so satisfied with itself that it can afford to enjoy a TV show, Portlandia, that makes fun of its foibles. And of course, foibles are easily fobbed off. They are not actual problems. Most cities … Continue reading →

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

Better ideas not worse, pls!

Posted on May 3, 2016 by David Brussat

Yesterday I sent in my monthly blog post for Traditional Building magazine, and today I’m thinking, well, I left out some really important stuff. My TB post was a reply to TB’s Forum in which the architectural historian Paul A. … Continue reading →

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Mehaffy on why we rebuild

Posted on March 20, 2016 by David Brussat

A retrograde opinion by a thinker of apparently native good sense can generate a cavalcade of truths from another thinker in response. Thus we have Michael Mehaffy’s response to Duo Dickinson’s curious “Sprinting to the Past,” against the idea of … Continue reading →

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Skyscrapers vs. sprawl?

Posted on February 21, 2016 by David Brussat

It is conventional wisdom that cities with lots of skyscrapers, such as New York City, are an ecofriendly bulwark against sprawl. Building up, it is said, avoids the need to build out. “Sprawl” is not just suburbia because suburbia can … Continue reading →

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Bevan’s “modest revival”

Posted on February 8, 2016 by David Brussat

Last week, in “Zaha Hadid gets RIBA medal,” I wrote that Hadid complained about “a tilt toward tradition in London architecture that only she is able to perceive.” I was wrong. The British critic Robert Bevan sees it, too: a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Suburbia!” – the game!

Posted on December 28, 2015 by David Brussat

I added both exclamation points, with full ironic intent. The game Suburbia? How about let’s play another game, Traffic Jam! (exclamation added). There are city-building games already, so why in heaven’s name a suburbia-building game? Maybe it’s a sort of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Salingaros does Metropolis

Posted on August 15, 2015 by David Brussat

Over the past few days, Nikos Salingaros has three new essays in Metropolis, the magazine of architecture, design and culture. His writing, with frequent literary partner Michael Mehaffy, has appeared in Metropolis before. These latest essays track his research and … Continue reading →

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“Now that’s resiliency!”

Posted on June 25, 2015 by David Brussat

Michael Mehaffy, an architectural theorist from Portland, Ore., who often collaborates with mathematician and fellow theorist Nikos Salingaros on treatises combining issues of design with those of science, has sent a lovely photograph he just snapped yesterday of the tallest … Continue reading →

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