Tag Archives: Modern Architecture

Architecture into politics

Posted on April 26, 2017 by David Brussat

In his Dezeen essay “To confront populism, all architects should become classicists,” Phineas Harper suggests that the architectural profession should compromise its aesthetics and embrace classicism in order to build social housing that is often blocked by NIMBY forces when … Continue reading →

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A tale of two PPS events

Posted on April 25, 2017 by David Brussat

Over the course of four days the Providence Preservation Society hosted two events, one about Cathedral Square, which I’ll discuss first, and the other about the Jewelry District. The first event, held at the Department of Planning and Development’s offices … Continue reading →

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Prov’s halfway to Houston

Posted on April 18, 2017 by David Brussat

Those who are running Providence these days should realize that a beautiful city can become an ugly city. It will not happen at once, but it is likely to happen before most people notice it, and too late to be … Continue reading →

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If dentists were modernists

Posted on April 15, 2017 by David Brussat

Jan Michl, whose paper on architectural historicism I discussed yesterday in “Pop the ‘historicist’ bugaboo,” wrote another paper, “Form Follows What?,” which he introduced with a riff from Woody Allen. Naturally, I encourage readers to read the whole paper, but … Continue reading →

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Pop the ‘historicist’ bugaboo

Posted on April 14, 2017 by David Brussat

Jan Michl, the design theorist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, saw my post “Huxtable versus Huxtable” and sent me a recent paper called “Towards Understanding Visual Styles as Inventions Without Expiration Dates.” In it, he argues that … Continue reading →

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

Huxtable versus Huxtable

Posted on April 10, 2017 by David Brussat

Ada Louise Huxtable’s first collection of her New York Times criticism, Will They Ever Finish Bruckner Boulevard?, is subtitled “A Primer on Urbicide.” The widely admired book, first published in 1970, is less than the sum of its parts. It … Continue reading →

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The Huxtable joke’s on us

Posted on April 1, 2017 by David Brussat

It may sound like an April Fool’s joke, but I recently started to read Will They Ever Finish Bruckner Boulevard? Turns out the joke’s on us. The book’s author, the late Ada Louise Huxtable, was, as most readers of this … Continue reading →

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Gallagher: “If Venice Dies”

Posted on March 31, 2017 by David Brussat

Mary Campbell Gallagher, founder of the International Coalition for the Preservation of Paris, has written a review of Salvadore Settis’s If Venice Dies for The New Criterion. Here is a direct link to her fine review, elegantly titled “La Serenissima” … Continue reading →

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Adam on classical language

Posted on March 28, 2017 by David Brussat

Robert Adam in his book Classic Columns addresses a topic many have addressed but at far greater depth of perception.  Few can fail to perceive that classical architecture is a language and that it evolves slowly just as the English … Continue reading →

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Adam on history & tradition

Posted on March 26, 2017 by David Brussat

I am reading British architect Robert Adam’s collection of essays, Classic Columns: 40 Years of Writing on Architecture,” just published. Chapter 5, “Can restoration be too authentic?,” totally demolishes a longstanding pet peeve of mine – modernist additions to old … Continue reading →

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