Robert Venturi

By
Salsawit Tsega

Arch 332: History of Architecture

Instructor: Biniam Ali
Addis Ababa University:
Department of Architecture & Urban Planning
August 23, 2006
Background
 Postmodern architecture initiated in the 1960’s
 It became more popular in the late 1970’s and 1980’s and
remained influential in the 1990’s as well
 Postmodern architecture illustrates ornaments on the
façade in exchange to unornamented-modern styles
architecture (Wikipedia, p. 1)
 Postmodern architecture is distinguished for
incorporating historical detail elements in a mixture rather
than just pure style, by using more decorative elements in
reference to the historical buildings
 Robert Charles Venturi is described as postmodern
architect. Although, he rejected the postmodernist label,
he is known for considering modern space as boring and
utilitarian
Robert Venturi
 The American architect Robert Charles Venturi was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 25, 1925
 He was a student at Episcopal Academy and graduated from
Princeton University in 1947
 He had extended studies as a Rome Prize Fellow at the American
Academy in Rome from 1954 – 1956
 Venturi is the recipient of numerous awards and honors
 He had won the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1991) and the
Centennial Medal of the American Academy in Rome, the National
Medal of Art and the Vincent J. Scully Prize of the National
Building Museum
 He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, School of
Architecture
 He had lectured in many institutions in America and Rome including
Yale, Princeton, Harvard, UCLA, Rice and the American
Academy in Rome
Robert Venturi …
 Venturi’s wife Denise Scott Brown is an architect, planner, author
and educator

 She has been a partner with her husband since 1964. Brown is well
known for creating awareness on the relation of architecture to
planning and social forms

 Brown is in charge of urban and campus planning and design in the

architectural firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.
 She has taught at University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Yale,
UCLA, and UC-Berkeley

 She had also several awards and honors, such as the ACSA-AIA
Topaz Medallion for Architecture Education and Chicago
Architecture Award (VSBA website).
Robert Venturi…
 Robert Venturi is also a well known theorist whose writings have
been significantly influential
 His most influential writings include Complexity and Contradiction
in Architecture (1966) and Learning from Las Vegas (1972)
 Venturi exposure and experience in Rome after college changed his
perception of architecture. During his stay he studied Rome for its
urban spaces as a demonstration of urbanism and viewed its
architecture as inappropriate and old fashioned
 His experience led to beliefs on complexity and contradiction where
initially formed and began to understand symbolism, rhythm, layering,
and richness of planes as legitimate expressions in architecture
 In his book Venturi discuss his response “less is bore” to modernist
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe “less is more”. Venturi explains that
modern architecture had become extremely simple and ignores many
features of a building (Venturi p. 16). Furthermore, he argues that
the idea of “less is more” could make the architect to be very
selective to which problems he/she wishes to solve (Venturi p. 17)
 Venturi Architecture Style
 He believes that architectural decoration should reflect
the culture in which it exists; therefore he separates
structural elements from decoration
 He has even said “I like elements which are hybrid
rather than “pure”, compromising rather than “clean,”
distorted rather than “straightforward,” ambiguous
rather than “articulated,”…” (Venturi p. 16).

 Venturi Scott Brown and Associates (VSBA) are

known for combining different elements in unusual
ways
VSBA Eclectic House Project
 It is an approach that has been influenced and Inspiration
encouraged by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott
Brown.

 Moreover, VSBA are known for eclecticism from

historical design styles to contemporary architecture
and advertising. The firm decorative art projects are
lively and bold eclecticism.
Venturi Architectural Works
 Venturi’s important commissions includes
 Vanna Venturi House, Philadelphia (1962)
 The Guild House, Philadelphia (1960–1963)
 Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania
 The Seattle Art Museum (1985-1991)
 The Sainsbury Wing of London’s National Gallery
(1986-1991)
 Pearson House, Chestnut Hill (1957)
 The expanded Museum of Contemporary Art, San
Diego (1996) and many more (VSBA website).
Vanna Venturi House
 The Vanna Venturi House is designed for Venturi’s mother in 1962
 It was his second completed building
 The postmodern in style Vanna Venturi House is located in
suburban Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia on 1,800 square feet (VSBA
website)
 The building is recognized as a “Masterwork of Modern American
Architecture” by the United States Postal Service in May 2005
(Wikipedia, encyclopedia).
 Venturi describe that “The house is big as well as little, by which I mean that it
is a little house with big scale…” (Venturi p. 119).
Vanna Venturi House…
 The plan is symmetrical
 However, the symmetry is distorted, because of the
intention to accommodate necessary space for the
house
 Near the front it has a diagonal wall suggest
direction to the entrance transitional space

Floor Plan
Vanna Venturi House…
 The chimney rises up and split the house in to two
 However , the living room is half vaulted
 The staircase and chimney compete for the main
center space inside the house
 The living room has a rectangular shape.
 The stair is distorted once it reached the chimney

Interior of Vanna Venturi House

Vanna Venturi House…
 The façade has semicircular element, which the whole
house rise up and begin splitting in the middle
 In the façade he combined a number of basic architectural
elements
 Venturi arranged the building with simple forms that is
modern in design, but includes traditional ideas of home
 The front, combinations of door, windows, chimney and
gable roof, creates a symbolic image.
The Guild House
 The Guild House, Friend Housing for the Elderly is
located in Philadelphia in 1960-1963
 The Guild House provides different types of common
recreation rooms in the six story building
 It was built to house elderly people, for those who want
to stay in the neighborhood they are familiar with
(Venturi p. 116)
Venturi Critics

 Although, Venturi has been admired for his

approach to architecture, he was criticized for
being more of a theorist than an architect
 Venturi was also judged for not convey his
concepts to the material world as he is
successfully wrote about them
 Venturi has redefined the meaning of architecture
only from postmodern perspective
Conclusion
 Venturi could be appreciated for his interest in the
communication aspect of architecture
 He has brought an important concept of
unification of arts with architecture
 His buildings have been sending messages that are
bold and straight forward
 Eventhough Venturi designed many buildings; his
theories have been extremely influential
 His philosophy of complexity and contradiction
stressed the importance of various meanings to
appreciate architecture design