Robert Venturi

Robert Venturi 1925-, American architect, b. Philadelphia. In his writings, Venturi inveighed against the banality of modern architecture in the postwar period. He argued instead for a more inclusive, contextual approach to design that heralded the postmodern era in architecture. Among his early large works is Guild House in Philadelphia (1962-66), whose entrance is distinguished by a bold, billboardlike sign. A more restrained historicizing mode has characterized his later public works, such as Gordon Wu Hall at Princeton Univ. (1982-84), the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, London (1991), the somewhat flamboyant but not overwhelming Seattle Art Museum (1991), and the expanded Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (1996). Venturi is also an important theorist whose writings include the influential Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966); Learning from Las Vegas (1972), written with Stephen Izenour and Denise Scott-Brown (Venturi's wife and architectural partner); and A View from the Campidoglio: Selected Essays, 1953-1984 (1984). He was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1991.

Bibliography: See C. Mead, ed., The Architecture of Robert Venturi (1989); S. von Moos, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates: Buildings and Projects, 1986-1998 (1999).

Venturi, Robert. See POSTMODERNISM.

Venturi, Robert (1925– ) US architect. He argued that architectural modernism was banal. Venturi's stress on the importance of ‘vernacular’ or contextual architecture heralded post-modernism. His publications include Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), and Learning from Las Vegas (1972), whose consumer architecture is contrasted with the post-modern approach. His buildings include Gordon Wu Hall, Princeton University, USA (1984), and the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, London, UK (1991).