Veritas et Venustas"Renewing Tradition for the 21st Century." Keywords: architecture, urbanism, classical architecture, traditional urbanism, New Urbanism, Classical Liberalism, Progressivism50s Revival- July 30, 2005 This is a view of the lobby in an apartment house by the developers of the apartment building below. Note to the young designers participating in the Fifties Revival going on now: I remember the Fifties they sucked. They were The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit, Gentleman's Agreement,...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/50s_revival.html Dog Bites Man- July 28, 2005 VIA Curbed and Triple Mint we have another exercise in graph-paper origami. Every other New York City building announced these days seems to be one of these "folded plane" glass-skinned things (Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards, Gehry's InterActivCorp headquarters, David Childs' Freedom Tower, Childs's TimeWarner center, the Bank of America building,...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/dog_bites_man.html Hot Time, Summer In The City II- July 27, 2005 YOU CAN'T SWIM at New York's Water Taxi Beach (or at the Lower East Side beach Richard Rogers has proposed). Why don't we get pools like the floating pools in the Seine in Paris All the Hot Young Planners in Lindsey administration (Jaq Robertson, Bob Stern) proposed them 40 years...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/hot_time_summer_1.html Hot Time, Summer In The City (back o' my neck gettin' dirdy 'n gritty...- July 26, 2005 TOMORROW it's supposed to "feel like" 105 in New York. Maybe it's time for Water Taxi Beach. But you can't swim therea movie doubleheader in the afternoon might be better (The March of the Penguins and ), followed by the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden at night. Water Taxi Beach and...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/hot_time_summer.html 21st Century Tradition- July 24, 2005 I'm one of those 21st century Traditionalists who thinks Modernism was a good thing, an important step for the growth of individual freedom and the pursuit of happiness. When I say Modernism, I mean the whole body of culture and thought that changed society and the world, going back at...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/21st_century_tr.html A WalMart Crock- July 20, 2005 Continuing the scatological thread: WalMart's announced they're building a "Green Supercenter" with "Environmental Sustainability" in the Dallas suburbs. B. The building will have windmills, sidewalks made from recycled tires, and "waste cooking oil" from the fried chicken restaurant "recycled by mixing it with used automotive oil from the Tire and...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/a_walmart_crock.html Sustainable Communities in the UK- July 17, 2005 Aerial perspective of Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset. by Leon Krier. Poundbury is an extension of the city of Dorchester, with a distinct urbanrural edge. UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, a strong supporter of New Urbanism, announced this week that he is bringing all 25 nations of the European Union together...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/sustainable_com.html Are Designers Drama Queens- July 17, 2005 From William McBee, via 2Blowhards. DesignObserver talks about this too.http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/are_designers_d.html Bastille Day Pictures- July 14, 2005 FANS of Audrey Tautou and Amelie have been disappointed by A Very Long Engagement. The story is long and tedious, and the director Jean-Pierre Jeunet managed to make his muse Audrey Tautou astoundingly unengaging. The best parts for me were a few moments of expensive CGI that recreated early 2oth...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/bastille_day_fi.html Real Estate 101- July 14, 2005 WHEN DECIDING on a name for your new development, it's best to name it after whatever your project is destroying. Fox Run Estates is that old estate over by 22 where we used to hunt foxes until they bulldozed the site and filled it with "ranch" houses (and where's...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2005/07/real_estate_101.html |