by Witold | Oct 12, 2020 | Architecture, Modern life
Do we still celebrate Columbus Day? This summer, statues of the intrepid explorer were defaced, beheaded, and toppled. In South Philadelphia, the City shrouded a Columbus statue and recently announced its removal. It is unclear what will happen to the Columbus...
by Witold | Sep 12, 2020 | Architecture
The City of Philadelphia has announced a $2.2 billion development on the Penn’s Landing site beside the Delaware River. The twelve towers include apartments, offices, and a hotel, the architects are Pelli Clarke Pelli and Bjarke Ingels Group. PCP has already designed...
by Witold | Jul 16, 2020 | Architecture
The current exhibition at the Farnsworth House gets rid of all the Mies furniture, which was never a part of the original decor, and recreates the interior as it was when when Dr. Farnsworth actually lived in the house. There are Moroccan rugs on the travertine...
by Witold | Jul 4, 2020 | Architecture, Modern life
Last week, the University of Pennsylvania announced plans to remove its statue of George Whitefield, a famous eighteenth-century British preacher, due to his condoning slavery. What was the statue, made by R. Tait McKenzie in 1919, doing at Penn? Whitefield was a...
by Witold | May 21, 2020 | Architects, Architecture
Blair Kamin, the architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, recently tweeted a May 19 photograph of Mies van der Rohe’s famous Farnsworth House almost inundated by the rising waters of the nearby Fox River. Kamin writes that the water level appears to be receding,...
by Witold | Apr 2, 2020 | Architecture, Design
A friend of mine recently emailed me a telling criticism of New Urbanism. “I’ve noticed a strange need to quantify everything from these guys. It’s almost like they are trying to deduce a pattern . . . and even worse . . many would lean toward legislating the...
