Veritas et Venustas"Renewing Tradition for the 21st Century." Keywords: architecture, urbanism, classical architecture, traditional urbanism, New Urbanism, Classical Liberalism, ProgressivismGreen Humor: "In our lexicon, 'as-phalt' is two words assigning blame."- October 31, 2007 I'VE BEEN WATCHING some of the TED Talks online at TED.com. I've yet to see a really good one, good from beginning to end. Bill McDonough's TED Talk starts slowly but gets better. I got particularly interested when he got to his explanation of the 12 Chinese cities his office...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/in-our-lexicon-.html UPDATE: Turin's Calling - Vote Now- October 31, 2007 Vote Now A Vision of Europe The voting's over. No towers beat modern towers 53% to 47%. Sounds to me like a lot of architects or developers voted, because I don't believe Torinese wanted to add skyscrapers to that lovely urban fabric (look at the wonderful courtyard apartment blocks...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/turins-calling-.html Good News, Bad News- October 29, 2007 The New 9th Avenue Bike Lane I WENT over and looked at the the changes the DOT is making to 9th Avenue. The good news is that we're remaking our streets and making a serious effort to make New York safe for cyclists. The bad news is that the street...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/good-news-bad-n.html Quote of the Day- October 28, 2007 There are so many things I love about Jane Jacobs: She hated one-way streets, and loved local beer. Judy Wicks, The White Dog Cafehttp://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/quote-of-the--1.html Al Gore Wimps Out- October 28, 2007 It's time to worry. As Bill McKibben writes in the New York Review of Books, "The regular reader of Science and Nature is treated to an almost weekly load of apocalyptic data, virtually all of it showing results at the very upper end of the ranges predicted by climate models,...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/al-gore-wimps-o.html Glass Schmass- October 26, 2007 Glasschmerz WE'RE supposed to think that "folds" make glass buildings beautiful and interesting. This shape would be boring as a two inch sculpture. At 60 stories, it's deadly boring. Taken around the corner from the previous photo, in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, this picture makes New York look like...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/glass-schmass.html What's so good about this- October 26, 2007 ARCHITECTS try to tell us that glass is exciting and new. Why Anyone looking at this photo taken in Midtown Manhattan can see the curtain wall is boring, repetitively boring, and bad for street life. It's scaleless and sexless. It's typical of the many office and "luxury" apartment towers degrading...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/whats-so-good-a.html Quote of the Day- October 18, 2007 You can measure the health of a city by the vitality and energy of its streets and public spaces. - Holly Whyte, quoted by NYC Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden So let's get the streets right.http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/quote-of-the-da.html These are your museums on drugs.- October 16, 2007 I got some comments to my previous post that Libeskind's addition to the proposed Victoria & Albert Museum will not be built. However, my point was the quality of the design, not whether or not it was built. Here are some more museum additions that are either built or are...http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/these-are-your-.html “This is your museum on drugs.”- October 14, 2007 This is the main entrance to the Victoria & Albert Museum, in London. This is the addition proposed by Daniel Libeskind for the Victoria & Albert Museum. For it, Libeskind used the same geometries he used for his seemingly (I haven't seen it in person) masterful Holocaust Museum in Berlin....http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/2007/10/this-is-your-mu.html |