Archinect - Features

A Fountain and Vanna Venturi House; 1964 with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown

2018-09-23T09:00:00-04:00

From the Ground Up is a series on Archinect focused on discovering the early stages & signs of history's most prolific architects. Starting from the beginning allows us to understand the long journey architecture takes in even the formative of hands and often, surprising shifts that occur in its journey. These early projects grant us a glimpse into the early, naive, ambitious and at points rough edges of soon to be architectural masters.

In this installment, following the news of Robert Venturi's passing, we look at Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. While most are familiar with their Vanna Venturi House, another small project was being worked on at the same time. Even though it remains unbuilt, it provides us another angle on this pair's remarkable start.

Frank Gehry, Colleagues, Past Employees, and Fans React to the Passing of Robert Venturi

2018-09-20T17:49:00-04:00

In the wake of Robert Venturi's passing at the age of 93 this past Tuesday, fellow practitioners, writers, educators, and dedicated followers around the globe are remembering the renowned architect with heavy hearts. Whether through his influential book “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture”, the trailblazing designs he created with Denise Scott Brown in VSBA Architects & Planners, or having the chance to meet him in person, people have been sharing on the Internet how Venturi shaped their own architectural perspectives and practice.

A Collection of Thoughts and Wisdom from Robert Venturi.

2018-09-20T10:47:00-04:00

Soapbox is a series delivering a curated set of lectures, talks and symposia concerning contemporary themes but explored through the archives of lectures past and present. With the plethora of lectures, talks, symposia and panels occurring world wide on a daily basis, how can we begin to keep up and if not, find them once they are gone? Soapbox looks to assemble a selection of recent, archived and outlier lectures surrounding a given theme. Soapbox looks to curate this never-ending library of ideas into an engaging and diverse list of thoughts and provocations. Soapbox is just that, a collection aimed at discovering the occasional needle in a haystack.

This week we look at Robert Venturi, whose wisdom and contribution to the discipline are unquestionable. With his passing this week, we look back at a collection of his public conversations and lectures.

Learning from 'Learning from Las Vegas': in conversation with Denise Scott Brown, Part 3: Research

2016-11-08T12:12:00-05:00

For the past few months, we’ve been publishing parts of an extended conversation with Denise Scott Brown. In this installment, we delve deeper into our discussion of the pedagogical methods employed in the Learning from Las Vegas studio, and what ‘learning’ should mean for architects more broadly.

Learning from 'Learning from Las Vegas' with Denise Scott Brown, Part 2: Pedagogy

2016-10-05T11:59:00-04:00

We left off our conversation with Denise Scott Brown talking about her childhood in South Africa and her early architectural influences. Now, in part 2 of our 3-part series, we discuss the unique pedagogical methods she pioneered alongside her husband, Robert Venturi.

Learning from 'Learning from Las Vegas' with Denise Scott Brown, Part I: The Foundation

2016-09-28T12:12:00-04:00

Nearly fifty years ago, Denise Scott Brown, her husband Robert Venturi, and Steven Izenour brought nine architecture students, two planning students, and two graphic design students to Las Vegas. There they studied the famous, if often derided, Las Vegas Strip, discovering a wealth of meaning in its bright signage. Their findings, published four years later in 1972, became one of the seminal texts of architectural theory and influenced an entire generation of practitioners and thinkers.

Architecture in the Givenness - Toward the Difficult Whole Again: Part 2

2011-04-26T22:06:00-04:00

Our education is based upon the Classical education. An architect is a mason who has learned Latin. Modern architects seem, however, more likely to have mastered Esperanto.

Adolf Loos, “Grundsätzliches von Adolf Loos,” Adolf Loos (Vienna: 1930), p. 17.

In our world of powerful stimuli and the often irresponsible, commercially motivated love of experimentation for its own sake, there is a great deal that does not establish real communication. For intoxication alone cannot insure lasting communication.

Hans-Georg Gadamer, The Relevance of the Beautiful (UK: 1970), p. 51.

The art of building has been transformed into a business of self-display and promotion through the design and construction of figurative motifs, making it an object of consumption.

David Leatherbarrow, The Roots of Architectural Invention, (UK: 1993), p.1.

Architecture in the Givenness - Toward the Difficult Whole Again: Part 1

2011-04-08T12:46:07-04:00