Tag Archives: Union Studio

Presto chango bus hub idea!

Seemingly out of the clear blue sky a completely new bus hub idea has suddenly emerged in Providence. The Innovation District Transit Center, it’s called. The reigning notion of shifting most buses from Kennedy Plaza to a pair of new … Continue reading

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Goofy new RW Park “gateway”

Leafing through the November issue of Providence Monthly, I was dismayed to stumble across a short piece, “Gateway to Change,” by Elyse Major, illustrating a gaudy new portal and visitors center planned for the Broad Street entrance to the city’s … Continue reading

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New and old on Westminster

Several years in the making, renovations on downtown’s Westminster Street between Union and Mathewson are almost done. It will take more time, and possibly the extirpation of coronavirus “and stuff” (as my son puts it), for the buildings to be … Continue reading

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Still attacking Kennedy Plaza

A sensible plan to renovate Kennedy Plaza attractively without evicting public transit from Providence’s central square – by far its most logical location – was submitted in 2013, designed by Union Studio. In 2015, this plan was frog-marched out of … Continue reading

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A new Kennedy Plaza plan

A new plan for Kennedy Plaza is described in this morning’s Providence Journal. “Kennedy Plaza plan envisions ‘true civic heart’,” by Donita Naylor and Jacqueline Tempera, describes a proposal that makes a lot of sense. It does not seem to … Continue reading

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Tower on State House lawn

And for no good reason. Grok this, fellow Rhode Islanders: The state wants to place a new transit hub along with a tower on land near the State House, possibly right on the State House lawn. The original proposed site … Continue reading

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Milwaukee’s I-195 success

Milwaukee once had a host of beer plants, including Schlitz, Pabst and Blatz, along the Milwaukee River to which hops, malt and other ingredients were shipped in and beer was shipped out by train. The beer factories closed, the Beer … Continue reading

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I-195: Subdivide & conquer

Joel VanderWeele, an architect at Union Studio in downtown Providence, has posted an excellent essay – “The I-195 Land: Subdivide & Conquer” – on the firm’s “unofficial blog.” It is about the development of the vacated Route 195 land on … Continue reading

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Polemicists in pen and ink

Someone recently twitted me for displaying on my blog beautiful drawings of a proposed new Boston City Hall designed (and illustrated) by Aaron Helfand. My correspondent said the building might not look as nice as the drawing when it is … Continue reading

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