Nir
buras

Traditional architecture, classic planning, man-machine futures, & urban biometrics at the Classic Planning Institute.

Books and Book Chapters

The Art of Classic Planning: Building Beautiful and Enduring Communities, Harvard University Press, 2019

Classic Planning: The Power of Beauty for Human Architecture and Planning, in Hollander, Justin B., and Ann Sussman, eds. Urban Experience and Design: Contemporary Perspectives on Improving the Public Realm. Routledge, 2020, pp. 28-39.

Opposing Skyscrapers in the City of Light, in Gallagher, Mary Campbell, Paris without Skyscrapers: The Battle to Save the Beauty of the City of Light, Mijnbestseller, Rotterdam, 2022, p. 80.

Seeds to the Future May Reside in the Past: From Abstracted “Green Zone” Back to Experienced “Country” in Camiz, Alessandro and Zeynep Ceylanlı (eds.) Cities in Evolution: Diachronic Transformations of Urban and Rural Settlements, DRUM Press, Istanbul, 2021.

https://ln5.sync.com/dl/8fd411610/hyermyj5-9454fdmc-deech6ja-wm7imgxjJosef Neufeld in Eretz Israel: Romanticism in Modernism (PhD Dissertation). Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and City Planning, 2000

Papers, articles and lectures

Five things I teach my students that you likely won’t learn at design school, 30 March 2022

Brielmann, A. A., Buras, N. H., Salingaros, N. A., & Taylor, R. P. “What Happens in Your Brain When You Walk Down the Street? Implications of Architectural Proportions, Biophilia, and Fractal Geometry for Urban Science.Urban Science 6.1 (2022): 3

Why are so many modern buildings ugly? James Stevens Curl knows why, 21 March 2022

The Three Worst Mistakes in Planning Our Cities, 10 March 2022

Authenticity, Beauty, and Human Well-being: Why There Cannot Be Good Urbanism Without Good Architecture, a panel discussion, co-hosted by the National Civic Art Society and The American Conservative, the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., 14 September 2021

Jefferson’s Academical Village: The University of Virginia and the Rhythm of Life, The Beautiful Home (Website), 9 September 2021

Can beauty kill germs?: The impact of town and country planning and architecture on public healthNew Design Ideas, Vol.4, No.2, Jomard Publishing, 2020, pp. 119-137

With Francis Terry, Building for the Future: Seeing Building Materials in Terms of Weathering and Longevity in New Design Ideas, Vol.3, No.2, Jomard Publishing, 2019, pp.99-112

Washington, D.C.’s New Eisenhower Memorial: My Response, 24 September 2020

The Ballad of Port Grimaud: Doing It Right in St. Tropez Bay, 23 July 2020

The Case for Classic Streets, 13 July 2020

Rube Goldberg is Alive and Well in Architecture: What happened to elegant engineering?, 2 July 2020

Interview with James Howard Kunstler – KunstlerCast 325 — Chatting with Nir Buras, Architect and Urban Planner about Truth, Beauty, and the Future of Cities, 23 February 2020

THE 15TH International Havana Study Tour and Charrette MARCH 8-13, 2020, 31 January 2020

The Art of Making Books: The artisanship of 2K/DENMARK and Graphicom in producing my book, The Art of Classic Planning, 18 December 2019

The Art of Ambivalence Disguised as Pluralism: Charles Jencks, Landscape Architect, Designer, and Writer, Died on October 13th, 2019, Age 80. 8 November 2019

Contrary to Common Perception, Density is Meaningless: Cities Need More Streets, Not More Parks, 1 November 2019

Three Futurist Urban Scenarios v. 01, The Mad Scientist Laboratory blog (website), US Army Training and Doctrine Command, 25 October 2019

Not a “Manhattan of the Desert” but a Lesson in Sustainability for Manhattan, 14 October 2019

Letter to a Bostonian, 26 July 2019

Classic Planning Holism as a Basis for Megacity Strategy, The Mad Scientist Laboratory blog (website), US Army Training and Doctrine Command, 3 January 2019

Man Machine Rules, The Mad Scientist Laboratory blog (website), US Army Training and Doctrine Command, 17 December 2018

All for Purism, and Purism for All!! Let’s all be blind in one eye, just like Corbu, 26 October 2017

Learning Scale from Copenhagen, 11 October 2017

“The Mother of all Planning Books”, 3 October 2017

Urban Lessons from Angkor Wat, 1 July 2017

To Know Xian, 21 June 2017

In Urbanism, Beijing means Trees, 14 June 2017

On the Road, 25 May 2017

World-wide Classic Planning Tour 2017, 23 April 2017

Note from Havana, 2015, 29 March 2015

Classic Planning — More Bang for the Urban Buck, Meeting of the Minds (Website), San Francisco, 03 March 2014

Past lectures

Socialist Aspects in Zionist International Style. Panel presentation in a conference entitled “Zionist Style: Modernism as the Official Zionist Style in 1930s Palestine”, Tel-Aviv Museum.

Romantic Intentions in Architecture, Palestine, 1920-1940. Colloquium lecture delivered before the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion.

Contentual Values in Israeli Eclecticism. Symposium lecture in “Eclectic Construction in Tel-Aviv: Meaning, Content and Critique”, a symposium devoted to the work of the architect Yehuda Magidovitch.

Preservation of Regional Identity. Conference paper delivered in “Utopia, Nostalgia and Reality”, the 3rd Jerusalem Conference on Heritage.

The Training of an Architect. Article published in “1:50”, the Technion, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning Magazine, No. 9, April, 1995.

The Anacostia River Masterplan 2005-2007 in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois

Mentions in press

Brussat, David. TAG 4.2 vs. TAG 4.2?, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 26 February 2022

Brussat, David. Traditional design is healthier, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 28 January, 2022

Brussat, David. Mary Campbell Gallagher: RIP, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 29 October, 2021

Meadowcroft Micah. Human Wellbeing: Good Urbanism Requires Good Architecture, The American Conservative, Washington, DC, 18 September 2021

Brussat, David. After Biden nix Trump E.O., Architecture Here and There (Blog), 5 March 2021

Brussat, David. TAG 4: Classical gears up, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 2 March 2021

Brussat, David. Diament on trąd in Europe, Architecture Here and There (Blog), February 23, 2021

Hewitt, Mark Alan. “Book Review: The Art of Classic Planning: Building Beautiful and Enduring Communities, by Nir Haim Buras”, in New Design Ideas, Vol.5, No.2, 2021, pp. 220-223

Brussat, David. Learn more about classicism, Architecture Here and There (Blog),.31 January 2021

Brussat, David. The Art of Classic Planning, Architecture Here and There (Blog), December. 1, 2020

Brussat, David. Architecture of the picturesque, Architecture Here and There (Blog),.26 October 2020

Brussat, David. A short history of closets, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 8 July 2020

Brussat, David. L.A.’s over-the-top garage. Architecture Here and There (Blog), July 2, 2020

Webb, Patrick.  Book Review: “The Art of Classic Planning” – How to Build Beautiful and Enduring Communities, Traditional Building Magazine, Washington, DC, 30 April 2020.

Favermann, Mark. Book Review: “The Art of Classic Planning” — How to Build Beautiful and Enduring Communities, The Arts Fuse (Website), Boston, 1 April, 2020

Brasuell, James, ‘The Art of Classic Planning’ Critiques a ‘Century of Bad Planning’: A book review of a book published this year with the title, “The Art of Classic Planning: Building Beautiful and Enduring Communities,” offers stinging criticism of the past and present of planning, Planetizen (Website), 13 March 2020

Paletta, Anthony. Learning From a Century of Bad Urban Planning: Classic city design is a lost art, but is now being recovered, The American Conservative, Washington, DC, 6 March 2020

Curl, James Stevens. The Art of Classic Planning: Building Beautiful and Enduring Communities, by Nir Haim Buras: James Stevens Curl is thrilled by a guide to how we can recover the essential principles of creating liveable cities, Times Higher Education, London, 20 February 2020

Kesich, Greg, Commentary: Sounds crazy, but it’s true: Streets can be safe without traffic lights: A new idea in urban design forgoes signals to create a slow, steady flow of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. Portland Press Herald, Portland, Maine, 13 August 2014

Dobson, Amy Rose. Paris & Anacostia: Wouldn’t DC’s Southbank be so much more impressive if it had a touch of Paris’ Left Bank?  Curbed DC (Website), Washington, DC, 31 January 2013

Kennicott, Philip. Critics of Gehry-designed Eisenhower monument step up opposition, Washington Post, Washington, DC,  18 July 2012

Flanagan, Neil, McMillan Two envisions a classical Anacostia, Greater Greater Washington (website), 14 October 2009

Witcher, Todd. The impossible dream: One man’s unlikely quest to transform the Strip, Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas, 19 February 2009

Brussat, David. America’s favorite buildings, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 23 February 2020

Brussat, David. Future of buildings revealed, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 14 July 2019

Brussat, David. NB: Corbu’s Villa d’Orgie, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 27 October 2017

Brussat, David, Trad clearinghouse?, Architecture Here and There (Blog).11 October 2014

Brussat, David. Guggensinki scandal?, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 7 September 2014

Brussat, David. Henry Hope Reed live!, Architecture Here and There (Blog), 2 June 2014

Flanagan, Neil. Tag: nir buras: Would You McMillan II?, Tsarchitect.nsflanagan.net (Website), Washington, DC, 22 January 2010

Sergent, Jennifer. Paris on the Anacostia, JenniferSergent.com (Website; Perkins Eastman), 31 January 2013