Posts by Erik Bootsma — Guest Contributor
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The size of city blocks can vary widely. Have you ever wondered why?
In Tuscon, Arizona, blocks are 400 feet per side, while Portland, Oregon has 200-foot blocks. Have you ever wondered why various cities choose one block size over another? Keep reading…
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Why a classical memorial better honors Eisenhower
This Monday, the anniversary of D-Day, the National Civic Art Society (NCAS) and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICA & A) announced the winners of the Eisenhower Memorial Counterproposal Competition. This competition was initiated after one of the most famous modern architects, Frank Gehry, had been selected to design a memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower… Keep reading…
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Why are blocks that size?
Daniel Nairn posted an interesting comparison of the street grids in various cities in the United States. This raised the question: why did various cities choose one block size over another? Why, for instance, are the blocks in Tuscon, Arizona 400 feet on a side, while Portland, Oregon has 200-foot blocks? The block sizes of most cities stem from the interaction of… Keep reading…
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National Gallery East Wing crumbling from Pei’s inflexibility
The facade of the I.M. Pei-designed National Gallery East Wing is now crumbling. Catesby Leigh reports in the Wall Street Journal that the building, constructed using an experimental curtain wall system that the architect described as “a technological breakthrough for the construction of masonry walls,” has become unstable. While the technological reasons… Keep reading…
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Bicycling growing in the Eternal City
When people here in the US think of cities with a strong bike culture in Europe, the places that come to mind are Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Paris, but Rome is rarely on that list. The picture that most Americans have when they think of the Eternal City is riding a motorino around the Colosseum, or as Eddie Izzard puts it most Italians riding around saying ‘ciao’ like… Keep reading…
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Transforming a suburban church into a neighborhood
Could developing large parking lots help suburban churches fund improvements? Grenfell Architecture designed this plan to help a parish create a more beautiful church using solid New Urbanist principles and traditional Virginia architecture. The church occupies typically sprawling suburban lot, surrounded by seas of asphalt and low-rise buildings. However, while I… Keep reading…
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Portland’s bicycle facilities
On my trip home last week, I saw some of Portland’s newest bike improvements. Here are a few photos. Keep reading…