Tag Archives: Modern Architecture

New blog page on ‘Dystopia’

Posted on December 28, 2018 by

This post serves as the official announcement that I have posted on my blog a new page – as in the “Home” page or the “About the author” page or the “Lost Providence” page. That is, I posted it but … Continue reading →

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SpongeBob HouseFancy

Posted on December 9, 2018 by

The other day my son Billy replayed for me an episode he had just watched of “SpongeBob SquarePants” (a cartoon that takes place at the bottom of the ocean). Billy, who is 9, thought I would like it, and he … Continue reading →

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A Lost Providence Christmas

Posted on December 3, 2018 by

Just as the Providence Journal has published its magnificent collection of old Providence and Rhode Island photographs, it is time to go out and get (if you don’t have it) my book Lost Providence. The two books would work well … Continue reading →

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Mayor Elorza’s brave veto

Posted on November 30, 2018 by

To the surprise of most observers, Mayor Elorza vetoed the Providence City Council’s approval last week of legislation to raise by a factor of six the 100-foot height limit on Parcel 42 of the Route 195 corridor. That legislation, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Providence Journal | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Sir Roger’s hunt for beauty

Posted on November 11, 2018 by

Sir Roger Scruton, the British philosopher and advocate of classical beauty and architecture, has been named chairman of a commission called Building Better, Building Beautiful to advise Britain’s government on issues of beauty in housing policy. This is fabulous news. … Continue reading →

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Review: ‘Making Dystopia’

Posted on November 2, 2018 by

[Review by David Brussat of Making Dystopia, by James Stevens Curl. Oxford University Press. 592 pages. U.S. publication date Oct. 23, 2018.] *** Modern architecture has hoaxed the world for well over half a century. Charlatans bred the founding modernist … Continue reading →

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‘Dystopia’ on sale in U.S.

Posted on October 25, 2018 by

On Monday, Making Dystopia, by British architectural historian James Stevens Curl, officially went on sale in the United States. I am mere pages away from its completion and will review it soon. It offers a comprehensive study of a monstrous … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Europe as museum for rich?

Posted on October 7, 2018 by

The late Walter Laqueur, who died last week after a long career cataloguing the sins of communism, terrorism and the Holocaust, was quoted in his New York Times obituary asserting that the “possibility that Europe will become a museum or … Continue reading →

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Science and architecture

Posted on September 24, 2018 by

Some perverse mental hiccup recently tricked my mind into picturing the Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry and completed in 2004 to house the science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Woe was me, briefly, until my natural defensive … Continue reading →

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Mies edits van der Rohe

Posted on August 31, 2018 by

Most people know that one of the three world-historical founders of modern architecture, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, changed his name at age 33 to Le Corbusier (the crow). Not until I got to page 126 in James Stevens Curl’s Making Dystopia did … Continue reading →

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