Architecture Here and There

January 2011 Archives


Penance for shining 'sunlight' on making sausage

rosspillory.jpeg 7:14 PM Thu, Jan 27, 2011 | | Comments (1)
By David Brussat    Email

" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" />Some readers will note that "Behind closed doors at the Ross jury" did not appear on this blog for long. I took it down at the request of the board......

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In search of Henry Hope Reed

libhawknear.jpg 11:17 PM Tue, Jan 25, 2011 | | Write a comment
By David Brussat    Email

On my way home from work this evening, NPR broadcast a report that a Cooper's hawk had been discovered in the rotunda of the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, across the street from the Capitol in......

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Coming up: Behind closed doors at the Arthur Ross awards

rossjury2.JPG 10:46 PM Tue, Jan 25, 2011 | | Comments (1)
By David Brussat    Email

The 2011 Arthur Ross jury, left to right: Your redoubtable correspondent; Natalie Jacobs; Tim Barber; Bill Harrison (jury foreman); Peter Pennoyer (ICA & CA board chairman); Janet Ross; Andrew Skurman; Lyn Muse; Seth Weine (competition administrator); and Karen Bechtel......

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Another critic wants to have classicism's cake and eat it too

palladiorotonda.jpg 3:34 PM Sun, Jan 23, 2011 | | Comments (1)
By David Brussat    Email

The Washington Post's longtime architecture critic Roger K. Lewis takes a stab at why Palladio's influence has been so pervasive over the centuries (his Villa Rotonda is above). At least he doesn't insist that Palladio was really a modernist.......

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Column: Yachting clubhouse will rise and shine

edgeripta.jpg 7:00 AM Thu, Jan 20, 2011 | | Write a comment
By David Brussat    Email

Illustrations: Above, the Edgewood Yacht Club, in Cranston, survived Hurricane Carol in 1954; below, the fire it did not survive; the George C. Arnold Building, on Washington Street in downtown Providence, after the fire; the Arnold in better days;......

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Coming up: Four columns for the price of one

edgegoofy.jpg 10:40 PM Tue, Jan 18, 2011 | | Write a comment
By David Brussat    Email

Four subjects pawed the pavement at the starting line. And they're off! Streaking ahead, all four topics approach the finishing line in a dead heat. They all qualify to appear in this week's column, though not all may be the......

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Architects say the darndest things

archwhitney.jpg 9:33 PM Mon, Jan 17, 2011 | | Write a comment
By David Brussat    Email

John Massengale links readers of his blog Veritas et Venustas to a conversation published in the latest issue of New York Magazine between several architects. The strangest things get said, and Bob Stern (classicist, 2010 Driehaus laureate, dean of......

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Column: Little Red School and the Big Bad Wolf

grovedemo3.JPG 8:44 AM Thu, Jan 13, 2011 | | Comments (1)
By David Brussat    Email

Illustrations: Above, the Grove Street School just after illegal demolition was halted in 2007. Below, the school before demolition; the school seen from Broadway; the stop-work order; the school with its tarp; inside the school; Michael Tarro; the Rhode......

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Coming up: Save the Grove Street School

grovepredemo.jpeg 9:58 PM Tue, Jan 11, 2011 | | Write a comment
By David Brussat    Email

The Grove Street School in 2003, courtesy of ArtInRuins.com * * * You've got to wonder whether something other than pure cussedness motivates the Tarro family's crusade against the Grove Street School. The building is a perfect example of......

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New roses and raspberries

roseraspaolino.JPG 4:03 PM Sun, Jan 09, 2011 | | Write a comment
By David Brussat    Email

Inevitably, the opportunity to post new roses and raspberries presents itself many months before the next official opportunity (that is, next January for this year's blessings and blotches of architecture in Providence and vicinity). An e-mail from an official......

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We need better bus service not new streetcars

streetcar.JPG 3:40 PM Sun, Jan 09, 2011 | | Comments (1)
By David Brussat    Email

Here's some good thinking about how to make Rhode Island buses more efficient. We don't need a new streetcar line, we need buses that run predictably and on time. And we all don't have a schedule in our pockets.......

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Here comes the Scottish Poundbury

scotpound.jpeg 2:47 PM Sun, Jan 09, 2011 | | Comments (1)
By David Brussat    Email

Here comes the Scottish Poundbury, and inevitably here comes the pounding it will take for establishing rules to maintain its beauty. Note that this place doesn't exist yet, and nobody will have these rules imposed upon him after he......

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Column: Roses and raspberries for 2010

roseoceanhouse.jpg 7:21 AM Thu, Jan 06, 2011 | | Comments (2)
By David Brussat    Email

Dr. Downtown scans the horizon of Providence in vain, or almost in vain, for reasons to be optimistic about the future of the beauty of Providence. Aha! There, about 358 miles to the south, is a sight sure to......

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Dildo Scorpion + Rentfree, or Studio WhatsInanaMe?

dildo.jpeg 9:57 PM Wed, Jan 05, 2011 | | Comments (2)
By David Brussat    Email

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's corporate handle sounds better as Dildo Scorpion + Rentfree. The Boston architecture firm would get many more edgy contracts if it were to adopt my proposed handle. Sometimes, if I'm feeling nasty, I replace Scorpion with......

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Coming up: Dr. Downtown's roses and raspberries

rosewarren.JPG 7:58 AM Wed, Jan 05, 2011 | | Write a comment
By David Brussat    Email

This year's crop of roses for Providence was ... but the doctor gets ahead of himself. Why let the cats out of the bag? But he will hint, if he can find an illustration to abet the game. .........

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