Red Brick Fever
Red Brick Fever
Terry Chen
→B.ARCH 2025
Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao showcases his deconstructivist style characterized by dynamic, metallic forms. While the museum has significantly boosted Bilbao’s tourism and economy, it has also sparked debates about prioritizing aesthetics as its only focus. This has led to discussions around the “Bilbao Effect,” a phenomenon where iconic architecture transforms a city's socio-economic status.1 The museum’s architectural self-marketing has undeniably spurred tourism and economic revitalization in Bilbao, attracting millions of visitors and opening new economic opportunities previously unavailable in the region.
This type of architectural self-marketing can be achieved by leveraging the historic characteristics of a city, such as Providence’s iconic red brick façade. Historically, the core of Providence and its surrounding mills were characterized by brickwork construction. However, following the relocation of the Interstate 195 highway, this tradition has evolved. Several new projects have been proposed, are ongoing, or have been built in the area formerly occupied by the highway ramp.2 The proposed Green Link utilizes terracotta panels to mimic the graphic pattern of the red brick masonry of historic buildings. These projects represent a broader trend that sends a concerning message: architecture is becoming enslaved to appearances rather than substance. In Providence, there seems to be an unspoken rule that building façades must resemble brick walls, even if the underlying structure has no connection to brick masonry.
The mimicry of historic brickwork with non-load-bearing terracotta panels illustrates a broader inclination towards architectural façades that prioritize romanticized fascination and visual enjoyment over historical authenticity and structural integrity. Such superficial fascination and enjoyment undermines the substantial part of both architecture and history.
Disappearance of Tectonic
First, it is important to distinguish between the concept of tectonic and stereotomic, as well as what tectonic means in my essay. The distinction between stereotomic and tectonic principles in architecture fundamentally contrasts subtractive and additive approaches to space-making and structural expression.3 Stereotomic design, characterized by its subtractive nature, involves carving into solid, monolithic materials like stone or concrete to create space, resulting in structures that convey mass, permanence, and a sense of groundedness. In contrast, tectonic architecture, emphasizing the aesthetic expression of structure, is additive, constructing space through the assembly of planar and linear elements such as beams and panels. This approach highlights the articulation and visibility of structural components, celebrating the construction process and the clarity of connections and joints, thus creating an architecture that is transparent in its making and expressive in its structural logic
Tectonics as an overall concept, defined by Kenneth Frampton, is the poetic expression of structure through architectural form, often reflected in the intentional display of construction methods or structural principles. Brick masonry, inherently strong in compression, has traditionally effectively utilized this attribute.
Louis Khan’s Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, is the perfect example of celebrating compressive tectonics of brick masonry. Completed between 1962 and 1974, the IIM stands as a seminal work in modern architecture, reflecting both Kahn's architectural philosophy and his sensitivity to the cultural context. In this typical arch, Khan made each brick necessary in the structural system. The bricks are staggered and stacked. When there is an opening, an arch is created to transform spanning tension into compression. On each end of an arch, the loads are not only vertical but also horizontal, so this horizontal concrete block here is to counteract the horizontal tension load. In this case, form is a byproduct of tectonics, not a presupposed abstracted image that happens before.
This emphasis on material honesty and structural expressiveness connects directly to broader architectural movements such as Brutalism, which also celebrates raw, exposed materials that clearly exhibit how a building is put together. Brutalism often uses exposed concrete, making the material's form and function a visible part of the aesthetic. This architectural philosophy not only foregrounds the physical properties and capacities of the materials used but also highlights the craftsmanship involved in construction.
Indian Institute of Management. Source: ArchDailyFurthermore, the dialogue between the material characteristics and the architectural form in both brick masonry and Brutalism challenges the contemporary trends toward façade-driven designs that may prioritize appearance over structural integrity. By contrasting these practices with those that clearly articulate the load-bearing and structural roles of materials, a deeper appreciation for the functional aspects of architectural design emerges, underscoring the importance of authenticity in material usage and the expression of structural truths.
This ongoing dialogue between traditional and modernist construc-tion methods sets the stage for examining specific architectural landscapes. The architectural tapestry of Providence is woven with traditional brick buildings and contemporary façade-focusing buildings. Historically, Providence went through an urban renaissance due to the shift in economic structures and demographics.
Deterioration and Revitalization in Providence
By 1940, Providence’s population had peaked at around 250,000, spurred by immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and Portugal during the Industrial Revolution.4 However, between 1940 and 1980, the population declined to about 150,000 due to suburbanization trends that accelerated after World War II. This shift, driven by the relocation of industries and residents to the suburbs, resulted in significant deterioration of downtown Providence and its southern neighborhoods, leading to many historic buildings and industrial sites falling into disrepair and creating a pressing need for urban revitalization.
The urban renaissance in Providence was anchored in significant physical transformations of the old industrial structures in the downtown area and the transportation system. The primary objective was to alter the city’s image to a “city of destination.”5
The relocation of Interstate 195 highway was a crucial step in this urban renaissance, giving Providence a waterfront area instead of the empty lots formerly occupied by the highway ramp. The Interstate 195 development was initiated in 2012 to drive economic development by creating jobs that reflect the city’s diverse demographics and attracting high-value developments. However, these development projects, including the constructed Aloft Hotel and proposed Green Link, are conveniently using terracotta panels or actual ornamental bricks in their façade to imitate the historical brick façade that serves no structural needs.
Case Study: The Green Link
The Green Link, part of the I-195 developments in Providence, transforms a so-called “Urban Lung” of the city—a widened waterfront pedestrian walkway—into a significant urban feature.6 The Green Link replaces over 13,000 square feet of accessible open spaces with a five-story luxury condominium, which includes an upscale restaurant and commercial storefronts on the ground floor.
In the rendered image, the façade of the building is an abstracted metaphor for a brick wall. The design of the façade in the Green Link is making a visual metaphor to the brick masonry façade. Apertures, such as windows and balconies, literally look like stacked bricks. The apertures are placed precisely according to the staggered pattern in brick masonry. The apertures on the façade are connected by the terracotta panels. These panels do not only have the similar color to an actual brick, but imitate the connective mortar that is used in gluing actual bricks together, as if an abstracted brick wall appeared in front of College Hill.
The building is positioned as a visual bridge between the city’s historic masonry traditions and its modern landscape, yet this bridge is superficial—relying on aesthetic mimicry rather than structural integrity or functional innovation.
Boston City Hall. Source: ArchDaily
Providence plan before Interstate 195 relocation, 1997. Source: Art in Ruins
While visually appealing and effective in attracting tourism and investment, this façade can serve as a form of architectural prop-aganda, masking the actual processes of urban renewal, which often involve difficult decisions, displacement, and economic challenges.
This strategy risks reducing architectural heritage to mere decora-tion, undermining the deeper tectonic and cultural narratives that buildings could and should convey. In Providence, as in many cities experiencing similar transformations, there is a danger that the rush towards eye-catching designs will overshadow the necessity for buildings to contribute genuinely to the urban fabric. The challenge lies in finding a balance that respects and revitalizes the built environ-ment, ensuring that new developments enhance rather than dilute the historical and cultural dimensions of the city.
The Green Link (proposed). Source: Stack + Co.
Typical brick façade detail.“Providence, the Renaissance City” versus
“Providence Renaissance”
However, Providence is not an Italian city, nor does it share the histor-ical context of Italian Renaissance cities. While Providence does have a rich history of industrial transformation, equating it with Florence or other centers of the Renaissance period in Europe may create unrealistic expectations or misconceptions about its heritage and current cultural landscape.
Providence’s misleading branding overshadows the city's actual historical and cultural assets.
This slogan hides and obscures Providence’s history from its industrial era to its current phase of economic and cultural reinvention. By tying itself too closely to the imagery and historical significance of the Italian Renaissance, Providence’s misleading branding both architectural and verbal overshadows the city's actual historical and cultural assets, which are substantial but specific in its own unique context. This manipulation of Providence’s image could be seen as an intentional strategy, mirroring the superficial façade trends observed in the 18th century Parisian urban naturalism. Much like how Enlightenment rationalism used the allure of “natural” decisions to mask the constructed nature of urban development, Providence may be using the Renaissance branding to similarly mask its modern transformations and appeal to romanticized notions of historical grandeur, thus prioritizing aesthetic appeal over authenticity.
In Providence’s cityscape, the ubiquitous red brick walls of refitted millhouses have been refashioned into a romantic backdrop that conveniently obscures their industrial origins. The very masonry that once bore soot and toil is now imbued with an air of Old World nostalgia—as if the façades of Providence were kin to the vine-clad garden walls of Florence, trading truth for charm. This metaphorical makeover symbolically transforms a raw industrial material into a Renaissance tableau, a deliberate aesthetic sleight-of-hand that swaps Providence’s gritty manufacturing heritage for picturesque imagery. Such use of red brick is not merely stylistic; it actively reinforces the city’s “Renaissance City” branding, supporting a narrative of rebirth that misleads by design. In aligning the architecture with a curated European fantasy, Providence’s boosters enact the very kind of aesthetic manipulation Marisa Angel Brown observed — a “nostalgic and conservative archetype” invoked to shut the door on the messy realities of history.7 The result is an attractive yet fundamentally deceptive streetscape, one that props up the city’s marketed renaissance while papering over the actual industrial past it sprang from. In this way, Providence’s red brick architecture serves as a stage set for Renaissance mythos, exemplifying the broader critique of how beautification can become a form of historical erasure.
Terry Chen is criticizing superficial brick-like veneers in
today’s Providence.
NOTES
- Plaza, Beatriz. “Evaluating the Influence of a Large Cultural Artifact in the Attraction of Tourism: The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Case.” Urban Affairs Review 36, no. 2 (2000): 264–274.
- Fraggos, Alec. “I-195 in Providence, Rhode Island: Urban Development or Dislocation?” Providence College, 2023. https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/history_undergrad_theses/67/.
- Frampton, Kenneth. “Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture.” Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.
- Leazes, Francis J., Jr., and Mark T. Motte. “Providence, the Renaissance City.” Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004.
- Fraggos, “I-195 in Providence, Rhode Island: Urban Development or Dislocation?”
- Stack + Co. “The Green Link.” https://stackac.com/work/the-green-link/.
- Brown, Marisa Angell. “Notes Toward a Critical Race Practice of Preservation.” Journal of Architectural Education 77, no. 1 (2023): 148–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2023.2165837.