Tag Archives: Renzo Piano

Downsizing newspapers

Posted on February 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Unlike some other shrinking daily newspapers, the Providence Journal has not moved out of its historic headquarters building, designed by Albert Kahn and completed in 1934, during the Great Depression. But the Journal has shrunk big within its extraordinary neo-Georgian … Continue reading →

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Which way will Paris go?

Posted on November 6, 2016 by David Brussat

Two items regarding the direction of Paris. First is a plea from architectural theorist Leon Krier that Paris’s Mayor Hidalgo find someone other than Dominique Perrault to redesign the portion of the Ile de la Cité (site of Notre Dame … Continue reading →

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Rachleff programming notes

Posted on September 27, 2015 by David Brussat

Victoria and I attended last night’s Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra performance at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. It was a wonderful concert even though – perhaps because – we left during intermission. Not that we wanted to miss Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” … Continue reading →

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BIG copies the future!

Posted on June 12, 2015 by David Brussat

It is alleged that Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the architect selected to design 2 World Trade Center, has engaged in copying the future. Mary Campbell Gallagher, the redoubtable defender of Paris against skyscrapers via SOS Paris, observes that Ingels’s 2 … Continue reading →

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BIG kicks Foster off 2 WTC?

Posted on May 5, 2015 by David Brussat

The idea that the developers of the 2 WTC megalith – the last major skyscraper of the World Trade Center rebuild – might send Sir Norman Foster packing delights me. The idea of booting the architect even as his tower … Continue reading →

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Embarrassing screen shot

Posted on March 13, 2015 by David Brussat

Above is a screen shot part way down into the online print version of an NPR interview with Renzo Piano, “The Future of Europe’s Cities Is In Their Suburbs.” In it, the interviewer says that “Piano believes it’s the architect’s … Continue reading →

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Renzo Piano, constrained

Posted on June 18, 2014 by David Brussat

A friend sent me from HuffPost this image of a new “building” in Paris by starchitect Renzo Piano (what a name!), sure that it would raise my dander sky high. But while the structure certainly confirms the stupidity of modern architecture, … Continue reading →

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Sad, glorious history of the Fogg

Posted on March 22, 2014 by David Brussat

Here, before I unveil a bit of the sad Fogg history, is an intriguing comment from Eric Daum, whose lengthy and erudite essay on the Gloria Dei Swedish Evangelical Church, in Providence, graced this blog several weeks ago: I love … Continue reading →

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“Screams art museum”!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by David Brussat

It sure does. That’s a direct quote from Thomas Lenz, head of Harvard Art Museums, intended as praise. The top comment after Harvard Magazine’s article about the Renzo Piano addition to the Fogg Museum of Art was “Is this really the … Continue reading →

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Vandalism at Corbu’s Ronchamp

Posted on January 25, 2014 by David Brussat

How could they tell? Seriously, the Chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut at Ronchamp, with its rough texture and swoopy lines, may be the least objectionable of Le Corbusier’s buildings. Although William J.R. Curtis has more respect for the chapel than … Continue reading →

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