Tag Archives: Roger Scruton

Scruton, Haussmann, Syria

Posted on April 25, 2016 by David Brussat

The British philosopher and architectural theorist Roger Scruton, whose 1995 book The Classical Vernacular is one of my bibles, has recently written “Rebuilding a new Syria without the divisions” for The Times of London. Syria’s history as a French protectorate … Continue reading →

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

“Orchestrate a Renaissance”

Posted on February 15, 2016 by David Brussat

Composing a comeback for classical music and classical architecture is the twin purpose, or so it seems, of the Future Symphony Institute, founded in Baltimore by Andrew Balio, the principal trumpet of that city’s symphony orchestra. Its latest project is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Style vs. form balderdash

Posted on September 7, 2015 by David Brussat

Justin Shubow, the provocative head of the National Civic Art Society, has posted a segment from a 1996 book review by the late Paul Malo of Roger Scruton’s The Classical Vernacular: Architecture in a Time of Nihilism, which I recently … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Return to the establishment

Posted on April 4, 2015 by David Brussat

It appears that tradition has begun its long march back through the institutions, at least in Britain. Oliver Wainwright’s latest piece in the Guardian, reprinted in Architectural Record, is “The Tories’ New Design Guide Backs Tiny, Unlivable, Backward-Looking Homes.” It … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Development, Other countries, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Disproportion by definition

Posted on December 10, 2014 by David Brussat

Above is my promised second reclining nude by Ingres, “The Sleeping Odalisque,” to be delivered after responses to my post “Naked proportion.” My promise to post another reclining nude by Ingres was slowed down by an apparent insufficiency of response. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Humor | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Naked proportion

Posted on December 8, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is Roger Scruton’s passage regarding the human body and its proportions, from Chapter 3 of The Classical Vernacular: Imagine a beautifully formed body – as depicted by Ingres, for example. Here we see a certain kind of perfection, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Scruton on proportion

Posted on December 8, 2014 by David Brussat

As an advocate of classicism I’ve always been sort of absent without official leave from discussions of proportion. Perhaps that is because it involves mathematics, which I have tried to keep at arm’s length throughout my life. Thank God for … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Scruton’s lonely candlestick

Posted on December 6, 2014 by David Brussat

Roger Scruton’s 1995 collection of essays, The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, begins with an essay, “Reflections on a Candlestick,” in which he describes an objet d’art sitting in a Brutalist conference room: My eye came … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Art and design | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Column: Architecture critic, heal thyself!

Posted on January 30, 2014 by David Brussat

Witold Rybczynski’s 18th book, “How Architecture Works: A Humanist’s Toolkit,” opens with a quarrel in its title. By any definition of humanism, architecture has been broken for at least seven decades. The book, published in October by Farrar, Straus and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Book/Film Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments