Category Archives: Current

You Thought Architects Designed Perfect Chairs? (Good, Better, Best)

by John Massengale Posted on March 26, 2014

THIS EXCERPT from an old post at Veritas & Venustas comments on some of the same issues that Witold Rybczinski just wrote about in a post and a Tweet: Good, Better, Best (originally published February 2004) .. The concept is a … Continue reading →

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Two types of architecture: good architecture, and the other kind

by John Massengale Posted on January 17, 2014

                    THE ARCHITECTURE CRITIC for New York magazine wrote about the work of Robert A.M. Stern in an article entitled Unfashionably Fashionable. I commented: “There are two kinds of music,” Duke … Continue reading →

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Glass House Conversation: Traditional versus Modern

by John Massengale Posted on February 11, 2013

A YEAR OR SO AGO, I was invited to take part in a discussion on Traditional and Modern architecture at theglasshouse.org that was framed like this: Traditional versus modern architecture; Proponents of traditional architecture cite a preference for historical styles. Modernist … Continue reading →

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You Can Lead A Bore To Culture, But You Can’t Make Her Think

by John Massengale Posted on September 25, 2008

This was originally posted on my old blog Veritas et Venustas in September 2008. I’m not reposting most of my old political commentary from there, but I’m making an exception for this one because it starts to get into an … Continue reading →

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Urban Architecture & An Architecture of Place

by John Massengale Posted on April 18, 2008

CitiField has no city, and the Metropolitans have no metropolis. OVER AT DESIGN OBSERVER, the great Michael Bierut wrote a good piece on baseball parks that I thought was a little too quick to equate traditional design with “nostalgia” while … Continue reading →

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Second Annual Slouching Towards Alphaville Award

by John Massengale Posted on March 23, 2007

An old post from Veritas & Venustas: It’s cold. It’s winter. It’s minus 20 degrees, an arctic wind is blowing in from the Russian steppes, and you’re walking on the biggest street in Moscow. Above you in the swirling snow … Continue reading →

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V&V: Making A Neighborhood Around Yankee Stadium — Designs By University of Miami Architecture Students

by John Massengale Posted on August 1, 2004

These are the plans referred to in the post above. They were designed by architecture students at the University of Miami in 1998. Click on the plans for larger images. From that post, Yankees To Ask New York For $300 … Continue reading →

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Muschamp on Ground Zero: It’s Houston, And We Have A Problem

by John Massengale Posted on February 22, 2004

THE MAIN ENTRANCE to the 911 Memorial Museum looks like the exit from a cineplex in a suburban shopping mall. It is unworthy of New York and a sad commentary on how little we achieved at Ground Zero after a … Continue reading →

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