Tag Archives: Modern Architecture

(Repost) Waterplace wig-out

Posted on March 29, 2014 by David Brussat

A couple more examples of initial design proposals for buildings in Waterplace Park should suffice to nail down the veracity of the idea that a perverse hand was directing the Capital Center Commission and its design review panel in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

L’Abattoir d’unité!

Posted on March 24, 2014 by David Brussat

Malcolm Millais, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009), has some interesting comments picking up on the skit by Monty Python posted Saturday: Although mainly about Freemasonry, in the skit the John Cleese architect designs an abattoir instead of an office block. … Continue reading →

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Shoe slips on other foot

Posted on March 21, 2014 by David Brussat

Michael Rouchell sends to TradArch a wonderful sketch of the new addition to the Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier’s pathbreaking modernist house of 1931 in suburban Paris. As intended, the addition raises interesting questions. Modernists are wary of additions to their work in … Continue reading →

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Column: The secret to making great streets

Posted on March 20, 2014 by David Brussat

The secret to great streets is that there is no secret, that great streets were once the norm, that making them is easy, and that we can have them again, even in America, if we want them. This is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Book/Film Reviews, Other countries, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Excuse my bro’ bias, but …

Posted on March 16, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is a comment from my brother Tony. It is a remarkable insight about architecture that might otherwise be embedded (that is, hidden) in an exchange between him and me after my post on Aaron Betsky: Dave, yes, cat’s out … Continue reading →

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Aaron Betsky sees the light?

Posted on March 15, 2014 by David Brussat

It was a remarkable admission to appear under the byline of an architecture critic of the stature of Aaron Betsky, in Architecture Magazine, the mouthpiece of the American Institute of Architects. His piece is called “A Place for Grief and … Continue reading →

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Column: The easy way to build on R.I.’s assets

Posted on March 13, 2014 by David Brussat

Almost all cities and states have policies intended to strengthen their economies by building on their assets. Most fail because they reject easy strategies and embrace difficult strategies. Two recent Commentary pieces in The Providence Journal address this issue: “Wise … Continue reading →

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Holl the Horrible

Posted on March 10, 2014 by David Brussat

After describing as “tripe” Hugh Pearman’s piece on Steven Holl’s Seona Reid Building, part of and across the street from the Glasgow School of Art, I feel obliged to say why, as if it were not obvious. The building is not the … Continue reading →

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Hollible, just hollible

Posted on March 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Steven Holl’s addition to the Glasgow School of Art, whose 1909 original by the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh is an icon of architects of every school, expresses the most profound disrespect for its neighbor. It eats one building and … Continue reading →

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Eric Daum: Gloria Dei, in Providence

Posted on March 3, 2014 by David Brussat

I here reprint a lengthy and extraordinarily erudite, and elegant, essay by my friend and fellow board member of the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. It was originally published on my Journal blog and … Continue reading →

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