Veritas et Venustas"Renewing Tradition for the 21st Century." Keywords: architecture, urbanism, classical architecture, traditional urbanism, New Urbanism, Classical Liberalism, ProgressivismQuote of the Day- March 27, 2004 "This is what I think lies at the heart of the classical tradition -- it is not a collection of motifs, not a menu of styles. It is an attitude toward the project of civilization, which is based on the idea that we are poised between memory and hope; that we have come from someplace memorable and are bound for someplace hopeful, and that the present time we occupy ought to be endowed with grace."http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/quote_of_the_da.html Another Pritzker Prize Winner<br>& Quote of the Day- March 26, 2004 I recently singled out Zaha Hadid's Olympic Village design as anti-urban, anti-social, and the worst of a bad lot. Then she won the 2004 Pritzker Prize. The next day, the architecture critic of the New York Times wrote,The audience for contemporary architecture has come to recognize that architectural aesthetics cannot...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/another_pritzke.html Top 10 Planning Issues of 2003- March 24, 2004 Here are the Top 10 Planning issues of 2003, according to Planetizen. Take a look at their streaming messages from various sources, on their new Radar--it's almost a blog.http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/top_10_planning.html Architectural Design versus Urban Design- March 24, 2004 These are some notes given to the students in my World Trade Center studio: The Olympic Village plans show even more clearly than the Ground Zero plans the difference between the way a modern architect designs and the way a traditional urban designer works. The architect designs buildings, usually object...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/architectural_d.html Got Neighborhood Part II- March 21, 2004 That all sounds reasonable, you say Who could disagree Well, how about most media-darling architects and most academics Take a look at the schemes in the post "It Takes A Village, But We Ain't Got One" -- not one of the Olympic Villages has the physical qualities of a "village."...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/got_neighborhoo_1.html Got Neighborhood- March 21, 2004 Whit Stillman, who's moved from the old urbanism of Manhattan to the older urbanism of Paris, asked for a definition of New Urbanism. The short answer is that New Urbanism is about the making of walkable neighborhoods. The short answer implies 3 things, all necessary for a walkable neighborhood:http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/got_neighborhoo.html "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"- March 18, 2004 "Everything changed in December 1910," Virginia Woolf famously wrote, and there are tipping points and turning points like that we sometimes recognize. In 1848, democracy swept across the European continent (often forcefully beaten back by authoritarian governments). In 1989, every Communist government in Europe fell within two months after the...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/whos_afraid_of_.html New Photo Album Ground Zero site photos- March 17, 2004 Taken during the site visit for my course Traditional and New Urban Solutions for the World Trade Center - click here.http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/new_photo_album.html Modernism: Stuck in the 20th Century- March 13, 2004 I've already said this in the posts about the Olympic villages, but let me say it more concisely: all of the forms of today's Starchitects and Architectural Fashionistas are nostalgic interpretations of the Modernism of the 1920s or 1940 - 1970. The 1920s brought us German Expressionism and the Russian...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/modernism_stuck.html Friday: Quote of the Day- March 12, 2004 A young architect once showed his hero, Frank Lloyd Wright, around a house he had designed. At the end, he rather foolishly asked the imperious Wright what he thought of the house. "We all do God's work," Wright replied, "You in your way, and me in His."http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2004/03/friday_quote_of.html |