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The lessons we’re still ‘Learning from Las Vegas’ after 50 years

2023-01-27T16:32:00-05:00

What struck me when I went back to reread the book is how deliberately it works to collapse the distance, and therefore the distinction, between enthusiasm and skepticism, and ultimately between documentation and critique. Above all, “Learning from Las Vegas” argues for a curious and open-minded anti-utopianism, for understanding cities as they are rather than how planners wish they might be—and then using that knowledge, systematically and patiently won, as the basis for new architecture.

Yale’s new visiting critic Christopher Hawthorne considers the lasting inspirational qualities and history of Steven Izenour, Denise Scott Brown, and Robert Venturi's seminal 1972 text, whose origins can be traced to a studio the young newlyweds taught in New Haven in the fall of 1968. Hawthrone places it alongside Reynar Banham’s Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies — published the year before — in an antiquated canon but says its impartial tone should be emulated by a new generation of high-minded designers hoping to dismantle or improve the pernicious social and environmental ramparts of our young century.

Related three-part feature series on Archinect: Learning from 'Learning from Las Vegas' with Denise Scott Brown, Part 1: The Foundation; Part 2: Pedagogy; Part 3: Research

“'To tear down Paris and begin again' is not so far, in spirit, from the current mood, even if the political goals of many young architects are quite different from those of the right-leaning Le Co...

Denise Scott Brown remembers John Rauch, long-time partner and influential driver of postmodernism, who passed away aged 91

2022-08-25T12:18:00-04:00

An influential figure in the development of American postmodernism has been lost after news that former Venturi, Scott Brown partner John Rauch passed away in Philadelphia last week.

Rauch was born and raised in the city and educated at Wesleyan University and UPenn before entering the profession following his service in the U.S. Army. He was an early champion of the work of his partner Robert Venturi and would, through their combined efforts under the then-moniker Venturi and Rauch, contribute to formative projects including the influential Vanna Venturi house and Fire Station #4 that defined the scope and trajectory of architecture for another thirty years.

Fire Station #4 in Columbus, Indiana. Image courtesy Library of Congress

The practice continued to evolve after the addition of Denise Scott Brown in 1969 and publication of Learning from Las Vegas in 1972. Rauch would again be instrumental in the selection of major higher-ed commissions for Yale, Princeton, and Ohio State Unive...

Fairy Tale Architecture: Little Red Riding Hood

2018-12-20T11:08:00-05:00

Just as ‘girl, wolf, woods’ signals Little Red Riding Hood, ‘gable, lintel, square cutout, arc’ signals Robert Venturi’s Mother’s House.⠀

In the second installment of our holiday series on fairy tale architecture, Mary English and Xavier Vendrell of Rural Studio present a playful take on Little Red Riding Hood, inspired by Robert Venturi's Mother's House.

"The story has three elements: Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf, and the house. The image of Little Red Riding Hood is iconic; any image of a wolf is iconic; so the house needed to be an iconic house," they explain. "It had to be a house that anyone would recognize as a house. In a way, the Venturi house is a house that a kid can draw, with the roof form and the chimney. And any adult will understand it is a house, but it’s something more, and obviously an architect or a designer will have another level of reading."

Hawthorne and Wagner on Robert Venturi's theory impact

2018-10-01T14:01:00-04:00

The idea of the “both-and” suggested a new pluralism, and maybe a new tolerance, in architecture. But the phrase turned out to have its limits. To the extent that Venturi was making an argument in favor of a kind of big-tent populism in architecture, it was a space for new styles instead of new voices, new forms rather than new people. In fact, tucked inside Complexity and Contradiction is an argument for a renewed insularity in the profession [...].

Christoper Hawthorne, former LA Times architecture critic and now Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles, dissects Robert Venturi's 1966 book, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (which famously scoffs at the Miessian classical Modernism with the "less is a bore" tagline), and argues in his piece in The Atlantic that the array of new choices the book offered also limited architecture's broader access to the public and diversity in the profession.

Meanwhile in another publication of the Atlantic network, McMansion Hell blogger Kate Wagner is out with a CityLab article on how Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour's 1972 Learning from Las Vegas influenced an entire generation of architects, and her personally: "I came from Anywhere, U.S.A., far, far away from any great works of architecture," she writes. "Venturi’s elevation of everyday buildings made me feel seen, made me feel like the places I had observed, and my appreciation for them, were valid and me...

Architect Robert Venturi dies at age 93

2018-09-19T16:03:00-04:00

From VSBA Architects:

Trailblazing architect, and 1991 Pritzker winner, Robert Venturi has passed away on Tuesday at the age of 93. He is survived by his wife and life-long business partner Denise Scott Brown.

Their firm Venturi Scott Brown Associates, now VSBA Architects & Planners based in Philadelphia, has published a brief statement:

Robert Venturi, one of the world’s leading architects, has died at the age of 93. He passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday after a short illness.

An expanded statement about Bob’s incredible life will be coming in the next few days. For now, Denise Scott Brown and James Venturi have asked that we respect their wishes for privacy while they grieve.

All of us at VSBA are heartbroken. Viva Bob.

Preservation groups urge to save Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown-designed postmodern Abrams House from demolition

2018-09-07T15:36:00-04:00

With more and more buildings of the postmodern school regaining media attention—either by entering the realm of heritage protection or by getting contemporary makeovers (essentially taking the Po out of PoMo)—we've now learned about another threatened structure, designed in the late 1970s by Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown (DSB was awarded the 2018 Soane Medal earlier this week).

The Society of Architectural Historians and Docomomo US have issued a joint statement calling for the protection of the Abrams House in Pittsburgh, calling it a "landmark of American architecture" and a "significant example" of American postmodern architecture on a par with the AT&T Building and the Portland Municipal Services Building.

Image: realtor.com, via docomomo-us.org.

Here's an excerpt of the statement:

The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) and Docomomo US express strong opposition to the demolition of the Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown-designed Abrams House, 118A Woodland Road, Pittsburgh...

Facsimile of the first hard cover edition of Learning from Las Vegas published by MIT press

2017-10-03T13:16:00-04:00

Now, decades after the original hardcover edition sold out, the MIT Press is publishing a facsimile edition of the original large-format Cooper-designed edition of Learning from Las Vegas, complete with translucent glassine wrap. This edition also features a spirited preface by Denise Scott Brown, looking back on the creation of the book and explaining her and Robert Venturi’s reservations about the original design.

45 years after its first publication, the groundbreaking book, Learning from Las Vegas, is still read, purchased and studied by architecture and urban planning students, thinkers and practitioners around the world.

Last year Archinect spoke with Denise Scott Brown about the Learning from Las Vegas on three themes: foundation, pedagogy, research.

MIT press is republishing a facsimile of the long discontinued, first hard cover edition of the book. The facsimile is sold for 100 dollars, much more than the paper back, but still much cheaper than the few remaining originals sold on the rare book market!

The Vanna Venturi house becomes an official historic place

2016-11-15T15:27:00-05:00

After being proposed for addition to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places last year, the iconic Vanna Venturi House has officially joined the list after being voted in by the Philadelphia Historical Commission on November 10th. According to PlanPhilly:

"After a nomination first heard last December, Vanna Venturi House was added to the register with universal glee, although the case dragged on for about thirty minutes as the new owner—who had purchased it to preserve it—quizzed the commission on exactly what they meant by the word 'property' and whether modifications to the grounds would be allowed."

For more on all things Venturi:

Vanna Venturi House's new owner plans to preserve property

2016-05-08T23:26:00-04:00

While the buyer’s name and official selling price will be kept anonymous until June, the real estate agency behind the sale, Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty, confirmed that the new owner is from the area and apparently wants to preserve the property as it has been maintained thus far. The last known price of the house was $1,500,000 back in March.

Previously:

Golden Years: Saluting joint creativity with Denise Scott Brown, on Archinect Sessions #45

2015-12-10T18:55:00-05:00

On the happy and historic occasion of Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi being jointly awarded the 2016 AIA Gold Medal, we speak with Brown about whether this could be a watershed moment for architecture, and the long road that she and Robert took to arriving here. We last spoke with Brown on episode #39, when the Vanna Venturi house hit the market.

If we accept that accolades like the Gold Medal have the influence to (potentially) nudge the profession in certain directions, then this time – the first the award has been given jointly, and to a living woman – could signal a movement towards increased inclusivity, and a reevaluation of collaborative agency.

Listen to episode 45 of Archinect Sessions, "Golden Years":

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Denise Scott Brown wins AIA Gold Medal

2015-12-02T19:48:00-05:00

Along with her husband and partner-in-design Robert Venturi, it was announced on Twitter that 84-year-old Denise Scott Brown has been awarded the 2016 AIA Gold Medal. Denise Scott Brown, who spoke to Archinect earlier this year, did not win the Pritzker when it was awarded to Robert Venturi back in 1991, a glaring omission that has consistently been called out for redress in the architectural press (to no avail).

The AIA chose to recognize Scott-Brown and Venturi's work on The Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London and the Franklin Court Independence Historic National Park in Philadelphia as some of the numerous groundbreaking works that have rightfully placed Scott-Brown in one of architecture's most prestigious registers.

Robert Venturi, Prince Charles & that false Corinthian column

2015-05-05T13:53:00-04:00

Today it houses one of London’s best permanent collection displays, but the 1991 Sainsbury Wing extension to the National Gallery in London was almost scuppered when Prince Charles and the other trustees opposed the architect of the new building, Robert Venturi. The row was over a false Corinthian column that the US architect wanted as a decorative feature on the Trafalgar Square façade of the new extension.

Learning from Las Vegas: a look at the Strip through urban planning lenses

2015-02-10T14:07:00-05:00

Al describes CityCenter as the product of “the Bilbao effect: the notion that buildings designed by celebrity architects bring in tourists, and in particular a higher-end type of visitor”. MGM’s version was to bring in name-brand architects such as Daniel Libeskind, Helmut Jahn and Norman Foster [...]. “It goes against the casino design convention,” Al says, “by having towers that let in natural light and meet the street the way buildings do in other cities” – with retail spaces, not gaming.

Denise Scott Brown and the myth of individual creativity

2013-10-17T21:43:00-04:00

Modern architecture, despite breaking with the past stylistically, nonetheless maintains this image of the gifted architect as a lone autonomous genius who overcomes gravity and prevails over his client [...] Rather than an inner activity done in solitude, it has been found that people often discover their thoughts and ideas through interactions with others [...] The centrality of collaboration in architecture is often overlooked in a culture celebrating and branding “starchitects.”

Referring to recent statistics concerning women in architectural practice and the Denise Scott Brown Pritzker controversy, architect Esther Sperber calls for an overhaul of how we think about creativity and authorship in architecture. Her piece for Lilith, "Revising Our Ideas about Collective Inspiration", argues that what is perceived as "creative genius" relies on cultural and social affirmation, and is therefore a necessarily collective act.

Endorsing D.S.B.'s demand that the architecture community "salute the notion of joint creativity", Sperber's piece recognizes issues of gender inequality within the practice, but is more concerned with the whole notion of individual intellectual ownership -- creativity just doesn't work this way, and prestigious awards shouldn't either.

As creative industries adapt "orchestrated serendipity" strategies to capitalize on collaborative processes, the presumption that intellectual production belongs to any one individual dissolves. Sperber'...

The Influence of Robert Venturi on Louis Kahn

2013-06-18T17:03:00-04:00

This study considers the question of how Louis Kahn’s development as an architect was shaped by the influences of Robert Venturi. The personal and professional interaction between these two historically significant architects began late in Kahn’s career and early in Venturi’s.

If my friend Kurt Dillon has not sent me the link for this significant thesis by then Master of Science in Architecture candidate Sam Rodell in Washington State University in 2008, I would have my suspicions hanging in the air without proper documentation. It is a great reading for folks who are ready to trash Robert Venturi at all times and treating Kahn as Zeus from the top of the hill. I have learned from and a fan of both, btw.

"This study considers the question of how Louis Kahn’s development as an architect was shaped by the influences of Robert Venturi. The personal and professional interaction between these two historically significant architects began late in Kahn’s career and early in Venturi’s.

Starting with Venturi’s master’s thesis in 1950, the relationship continued past the seminal publication of Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture sixteen years later. Some historical accounts portray Kahn as mentor to Venturi over this period of time. It was in fact a ...

Eisenman's House VI, Venturi's Philadelphia House, and Louis Kahn’s Esherick House all set to hit the market

2013-05-01T18:18:00-04:00

Three of the most important modernist houses in the Northeast, including the 1964 house Robert Venturi designed for his mother, have been (or will soon be) put up for sale by their long-time owners, two of them without covenants that would ensure their preservation.

Venturi's Philadelphia House

Louis Kahn’s Esherick House

Robert Venturi retires, and firm renames

2012-07-26T14:45:00-04:00

Robert Venturi, who along with his wife Denise Scott Brown formed one of Philadelphia’s best known architectural firms, has retired and the firm known as Venturi Scott Brown and Associates Inc. has been renamed VSBA.

Improper Hero of Architecture

2011-07-25T18:27:00-04:00

Modernism is about space, post modernism is about communication, you should do what turns you on" - Robert Venturi

After saying, "my understanding of post modernism was pretty shallow," film maker John Thornton, a.k.a Rusty Scupperton, finds out what Robert Venturi is all about in this 2 parts video.

Venturi's Lieb House on the move

2009-02-11T10:40:00-05:00

These images show Pritzker prize-winning architect Robert Venturi’s two-storey Lieb House being moved from its original site in Long Beach Island New York to a new home in Glen Cove, New York. BD | NYT | yesterday