Posts Tagged ‘city planning’
LOST Providence: The Downcity Plan – we need developers that say “yes”! – David Brussat
lost providence
Read MoreThe Interface Plan (cont), Lost Providence – David Brussat
The second half of Chapter 17, “The Interface Plan,” opens with a continuation of comments on architectural trends in the early 1970s and then describes the Interface: Providence plan at some length, including several illustrations not included in Lost Providence. The “turmoil” referred to in the opening sentence below refers to the accurate critique of…
Read MoreThe Interface Plan of 1974, Lost Providence – David Brussat
by David Brussat, Architecture Here and There, contributing writer Photo: Rhode Islanders shopping on Westminster St during Christmas season, 1950. Library of Congresss The second half of Chapter 17, “The Interface Plan,” from Lost Providence, tells the story of the plan produced by the Rhode Island School of Design students under Prof. Gerald Howes. It…
Read MoreThe College Hill Study, part 2, Lost Providence – David Brussat
by David Brussat, Architecture Here and There, contributing writer Illustration of proposed modernist infill development on College Hill. (Author’s archives) Here is the second half of Chapter 16, “The College Hill Study,” from Lost Providence. The study’s proposals, released in 1959, would have replaced much of the fabled district’s historical houses with modernist infill, although…
Read MoreDowntown Providence 1970 – David Brussat
by David Brussat, Architecture Here and There Photo: proposed Westminster Mall is from Downtown Providence 1970. (Author’s archives) This is the second half of Chapter 15 from Lost Providence. Chapters leading up to “Downtown Providence 1970 Plan” in Part II of the book are: “Cove Basin and the Railroads,” “The World’s Widest Bridge” and “New…
Read MoreAs Franklin said, “A beautiful city, Ma’am, if you can keep it.”- David Brussat
Photo: Raised river walk of boardwalk with chain-link fencing, its ugliness mitigated by ugly building. (City) Forces are gathering to undo much of the good work done in recent decades to improve the city of Providence. Our beautiful new waterfront seems about to be sacrificed unnecessarily to climate anxieties. Kennedy Plaza, the nexus of public…
Read MoreDodge the I-195 Fooddoggle – David Brussat
by David Brussat – Architecture Here and There, contributing writer Yesterday’s Sunday Journal describes the growing dispute between Providence restaurants and the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, which wants to use state money to finance a food pavilion in the park at the west end of the Van Leesten Memorial Pedestrian Bridge. Restaurateurs oppose using public…
Read MoreParis without skyscrapers – David Brussat
by David Brussat, Architecture Here and There, contributing writer Photo, top: My favorite shot of central Paris taken during a trip there in 2003 There is an infinity of reasons why Paris should not build skyscrapers. Each street, each building, amounts to such a reason. You could say each citizen of Paris, each citizen of…
Read MoreStill no basis to leave Kennedy Plaza – David Brussat
by David Brussat, Architecture Here and There, contributing writer on architecture Image, above: Proposed Dorrance Street Transit Center four blocks south of Kennedy Plaza. (Union Studios) Not much seems to have changed from last November when I first wrote about a new proposal to replace the Kennedy Plaza bus depot with a new, indoor facility…
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