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Ruskin, Venice and the Fulcrum of European Architecture
At the start of his three-volume The Stones of Venice, published from 1851 to 1853, John Ruskin sets out what will be a recurring theme in his explanation of the style of Venetian architecture. He...
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Art Matters
Reed Hilderbrand Associates, Reflecting Pool, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts There are many tense situations to be found lining the corridors and galleries of...
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Reconstruction and Commemoration
Proposal for the Reconstruction of the Potsdam Stadtschloss and Historic Center. Painting by James Hart Dyle<br/>(The Prince of Wale's Urban Design Task Force, 1996)Life is a permanent process of...
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Vitruvius as the Model for Modernist Architects
Classical and traditional architects honor the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius as their godfather. He is surely the most prominent face of classicism among the modernist architects who reject any...
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Transforming Tradition at the Harvard Art Museums
A diagonal ramp rises gently to the front door of the newly renovated Harvard Art Museums (HAM) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Renzo Piano, the architect responsible for the renovation, has retained the...
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Urban Design in the Footsteps of Camillo Sitte
Street in Toulouse, FranceBeauty has always paid better than any other commodity and always will. —Frederick Law Olmsted Camillo Sitte published his book on urban design, Der Städtebau—known in its...
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Jefferson as a Model for American Classical Architecture
Note: This essay is a counterpart to “Vitruvius as the Model for Modernist Architects,” American Arts Quarterly, 32 (2: 2015) 32–43. The nation that Thomas Jefferson helped bring into being was, as...
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Building Friendships
Unlike an unimaginative, soul-numbing work of art—a Damien Hirst pickled animal or a Koons kitschy puppy—we can’t completely ignore a piece of architecture simply because of its sheer scale. When a...
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Geography and Loss
At the end of the natural history and anthropological displays of the NY State Museum in Albany, a long, narrow, dark grey gallery offers a gem of an exhibition. With sharp, bright colored images...
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Architectural Drawing and the Two Images
Carl Laubin, Capriccio in process of buildings by Edwin Lutyens, 2016Architects and artists see the world as image and build the world as image. As makers of images, they know that seeing and imagining...
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