This post is brought to you by Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University

This summer, Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University presents Learning to See : Denise Scott Brown, an immersive show examining Denise Scott Brown’s defining views on architecture and urbanism understood through her photographs of cities and landscapes taken throughout her life, and largely during the 1960s and 1970s. 

The exhibition is open to the public through September 18, 2021.

Denise Scott Brown, who has based her architectural practice in Philadelphia since the late 1960s, says, “I have never thought of myself as a photographer, only an architect and urbanist, but for seven decades I have taken photographs and use photography to illustrate the ideas behind what I teach, design and write. These reflect so much of who I am.”

Co-curators Carolina Vaccaro and Noa Maliar, longtime colleagues of Denise Scott Brown, present these photographs billboard-sized and flowing from room to room in an all-encompassing experience of obscure and off-beat places, moments and contexts. 

Geography, time and themes intersect, beginning with Scott Brown’s observations of her South African homeland, to her travels in Europe and explorations in Santa Monica, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, culminating with an intimate room-within-a-room devoted to her work in and of Philadelphia.

The result is a circular vision across three continents, demonstrating Scott Brown’s practice of “learning from what’s around you.” 

Curator Carolina Vaccaro says, “The continuous sequence of linked images expresses Scott Brown’s interest in the imperfect world around us—the edges of things, vast spaces and voids, wastelands as juxtapositions between urban systems and places of freedom, architectural patterns, and patterns of activity.”

A large gallery space documents Scott Brown’s inquiry into the American identity with photos that reveal the emergence of a new form of the city—one dominated by automobiles and its related architecture—as well as her “Learning from Las Vegas” study with Robert Venturi and Steven Izenour, which aimed to understand the aesthetics of urban sprawl in its purest and most extreme form.

After the Las Vegas gallery, visitors meander into a more personal space containing an intimate room-within-a-room highlighting Scott Brown’s academic and professional work in Philadelphia.

“To present Denise Scott Brown’s work in Philadelphia gives us a chance to reflect and celebrate her importance and impact as an architect and planner,” says Kate Wingert-Playdon, associate dean and director of Tyler’s Architecture & Environmental Design program. “She was one of only a handful of women designers in her generation. This exhibition allows us to understand the important role she has played in helping us all learn to see.”

On View
Learning to See: Denise Scott Brown
Temple Contemporary
May 20–September 18, 2021
Gallery Hours: Wed–Sat, 11–6:00 p.m.
2001 N 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122

Visit the exhibition website for visitor and reservation information.

About the Curators

Carolina Vaccaro, PhD, is a practicing artist in Rome, Italy. She has shown in the Biennale of Venice and the Triennale of Milan, among others. Vaccaro worked at the office of Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates in the 1980s. 

Noa Maliar is a practicing architect in Tel Aviv, Israel. She has taught at Parsons, Technion University, and Bezalel Academy. She received a Master in Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor in Architecture from Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

Learn more about the Tyler School of Art and Architecture here.