Two Books on Architecture and Society

April 21, 2016 by Bruce Donnelly in Architecture, Urbanism, Society

Charles Siegel sent me a copy of his book, The Humanists versus the Reactionary Avant Garde to review. It's worth reading with Carroll William Westfall's Architecture, Liberty and Civic Order.

Siegel's book explains the failings of modernist architecture in aesthetic, physical, and cultural terms. He points out its failings in terms of scale and design in ways that are similar to the ones that I mentioned in my post on de-structured space. Many of these are failings that we've known about since Form Follows Fiasco. Some of them focus on planning matters that New Urbanism has been dealing with. Siegel, however, is more critical of Clarence Perry's Neighborhood Unit and what we might call the commodification of urban life.

Architecture for Urbanism

April 20, 2016 by Bruce Donnelly in Architecture, Society

Prompted by a 2015 meeting in Charleston South Carolina, I have worked with a few people to craft a set of "Canons for Humane Architecture," to complement the Canons of sustainable Architecture and Urbanism adopted by the CNU. This is a very preliminary draft, yet it probably comes fairly close to what most New Urbanists who prefer traditional architecture would agree with.

I will be proposing this in an "Open Source Congress" meeting at CNU 24, and welcome comments and suggestions.

De-structured space

September 11, 2015 by Bruce Donnelly in Architecture, Urbanism

What is de-structured space, in detail? How is it made? How is it so artfully composed?

Structured and De-structured Space

July 06, 2015 by Bruce Donnelly in Architecture, Urbanism

Most crafts and ornament are very structured: symmetrical, rhythmic, and so on. Naturalistic design is de-structured. It is not random and unstructured. De-structured space is structured artfully to look like compressed, perfected nature – without being random at all.The following is an excerpt from Structured and De-structured Space (pdf).

Evolutionary Architecture: 2

August 25, 2014 by Bruce Donnelly in Architecture, Urbanism

The style wars between modernism and traditional design usually get stuck on the false choice between continuity and change, as if tradition just means copying the past, and breaking tradition equals modernity. Neither really captures the algorithm we need to follow in order to build better places: evolution. Evolution begins with the past, copying it. Then it goes much further.

Evolutionary Architecture: 1

August 03, 2014 by Bruce Donnelly in Architecture, Urbanism

There used to be a big debate on the beautiful versus the sublime. Forest edges are usually beautiful. They do not usually include things like sheer cliffs or water that goes to the horizon. Those have an "awesome beauty" or “sublime” quality that puts one at least slightly on guard. Our ancestors usually sought out beautiful places and were appropriately on guard around the sublime or awe-inspiring.

The Normal

October 16, 2013 by Bruce Donnelly in Codes, Urbanism

A good strategy for Lean might be to leverage the "normal" against the bureaucratic: where the bureaucratic disallows the norm, a bureaucracy is vulnerable. We need to prick the conscience. If someone can't build a business, build a home, build apartments for the middle class, and so on, that's not normal, and the bureaucracy is vulnerable. "Somebody" can be a builder, a businessperson, and especially (for political leverage) cultural-estate groups and homeowners.

The Social Media Plan

September 25, 2013 by Bruce Donnelly

Steve Mouzon has written a very useful book for designers and builders (planners, etc.) who hope to capitalize on the web and social media. Steve asked many of us to review his book, and I took him up on it. I’ve already heard of slight revisions based on input, so what I read is the e-book equivalent of a “galley.” Apparently, something like 200 people agreed, so – following his book’s advice – I’ll limit my review to an area in which I think I can add value. For me, the central question is, “How should we approach social media?” That's second to "Who should buy this book?" I think there is a danger of becoming mercenary – and to his credit, I’m sure Steve would be horrified if that were to happen.

Some rules for Lean Urbanism

September 21, 2013 by Bruce Donnelly in Codes, Urbanism

In conversation with some people working on Lean, I've been thinking about a few rules for operating in a Lean fashion. They're entirely my own, but I think they have "legs."

Some general rules . . .

Cleveland's Agricultural Urbanism

November 15, 2012 by Bruce Donnelly in Architecture, Urbanism

The Congress for the New Urbanism just posted a piece I did on Cleveland’s agricultural urbanism. In it, I discuss the tension in Cleveland between placing urban agriculture where it makes the most sense and placing it where it will be most visible.