Tag Archives: Paris

Stone carving jobs for youth

Posted on September 18, 2022 by David Brussat

National Public Radio reported three years ago that the need for stone carvers to help restore the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, in Paris, following its fire in 2019, has caused schools teaching that craft to mushroom in France. These young people … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Latest wrinkle at Notre-Dame

Posted on August 14, 2022 by David Brussat

Paris’s mayor Anne Hildago has announced a proposed visitors center in an abandoned garage beneath Notre-Dame cathedral. Since visitors centers are notoriously ugly, this one qualifies as an odd duck. Its location underneath the cathedral’s large plaza hides it away … Continue reading →

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

“Paris Without Skyscrapers”

Posted on May 29, 2022 by David Brussat

There is an infinity of reasons why Paris should not build skyscrapers. Each street, each building, amounts to such a reason. You could say each citizen of Paris, each citizen of the world is a reason. But one reason I … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Notre-Dame falls to Disney?

Posted on November 27, 2021 by David Brussat

Officials overseeing reconstruction of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame announced, on Sept. 18, that the landmark would open in time for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Good! However, the UK Telegraph has just run an article based on leaked plans to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Mary Campbell Gallagher: RIP

Posted on October 29, 2021 by David Brussat

I was saddened to hear of the passage on Monday, after a year-long illness, of Mary Campbell Gallagher, a leader in the fight against skyscrapers and other modernist architecture in Paris. Mary was best known for her work as liaison … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

See how form follows fiasco

Posted on September 21, 2021 by David Brussat

I’ve just started rereading the late Peter Blake’s slender 1960 hagiography of French architect Le Corbusier, born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret in Switzerland. A far better book on Corbu, as he is known by his many deluded admirers, is Le Corbusier: The … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Tall buildings all fall down

Posted on August 30, 2021 by David Brussat

Is there something off-kilter about the photo above from a video sent to me yesterday by architectural theorist Nikos Salingaros? Yes, there is. At first I thought it was a video of Pruitt-Igoe, the St. Louis public housing project, all … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mary Gallagher: Saving Paris

Posted on April 10, 2021 by David Brussat

On Thursday, Mary Campbell Gallagher, a leader in the crusade to save Paris from skyscrapers, had an oped in Le Figaro, one of the capital’s leading newspapers in addition to Le Monde. With her permission I republish it as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

“Building Notre Dame”

Posted on May 1, 2020 by David Brussat

PBS has broadcast a brilliant documentary, “Building Notre-Dame,” on the construction, over some 800 years, of the cathedral in Paris. We all know that the building arose as the cutting edge of architecture in the Middle Ages, and that a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Is Wuhan China’s Chicago?

Posted on April 24, 2020 by David Brussat

Wuhan, the Chinese city where the Wuhan virus originated, is sometimes called “The Chicago of China” for its size (pop. 11.8 million), its central location, its setting on the Yangtze River and its historic buildings and its modern architecture. Here … Continue reading →

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