Architecture Here and There

Will the redevelopment of Providence's vacant Route 195 land model itself after the failure of the Capital Center. The latter, befuddled as it may be, is considered a success by Providence's design elite, and what is to be copied rather than avoided was the focus at last week's symposium, hosted by the Providence Preservation Society and the Rhode Island chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

A program schedule for the symposium, with panelist names, is here.

So which will it be? On the one hand, the symposium was sponsored by GTECH, which hosted a gala on its grand balcony, and opened with a screening of a documentary at RISD's Chace Center. On the other hand, the documentary screened was none other than "Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City," and only a dolt could fail to notice that Burnham's claim to fame was in the beauty of his classical architecture and planning. Was anyone paying attention?

Thursday's column may not have the answer, but it will nudge minds in the right direction if those minds are open enough to be nudged out of the entrenchments of modernism.

 Tags  AIA/ri Architecture Daniel Burnham David Brussat Make No Little Plans Planning Providence Preservation Society Providence RI Route 195 Commission

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