Iconography and Electronics upon a Generic Architecture: A View from the Drafting Room - Softcover

Venturi, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262720299 ISBN 13: 9780262720298

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1998

Synopsis

Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture and Learning from Las Vegas (the latter coauthored with Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour) are among the most influential books by any architect of our era -- the one celebrating complexity in architecture, the other the uses of symbolism in commercial and vernacular architecture and signage. This new collection of writings in a variety of genres argues for a generic architecture defined by iconography and electronics, an architecture whose elemental qualities become shelter and symbol.The voice is personal -- eloquent in expounding on the unglamorous side of practice; sometimes vituperative and corrective in addressing clients, theoreticians, and critics; often amusing and humorous in looking back on past projects and opportunities; instructive in describing early influences and tastes; and reflective in assessing his own impact on the profession.The essays include Venturi's 1950 M.F.A. thesis, published here for the first time -- a work that foreshadows many of the themes that were later to make him a controversial and ground-breaking architect and writer -- and a series of vintage Venturi aphorisms.

About this title

Review:

While writing a speech about the visual antecedents of the World Wide Web, I came across a copy of Robert Venturi's Learning From Las Vegas, and realized that much of what Venturi has to say in the '50s about Las Vegas architecture had great similarities to the appropriation of physical metaphors in cyberspace, and the compression of space and time into flatspace.

Iconography and Electronics... is a thought-provoking collection of Venturi's essays, screeds, and articles (episodically) exploring the use of electronics in architectural design (despite the title's promise). Regardless of what you think of Venturi's architecture you are sure to be stimulated and challenged by his proposed marriage of the physical and the digital. However, if you've not read much architectural theory before, be forewarned: Venturi, like most in his field, prefers a turgid and dense style that sometimes seems to be the illegitimate spawn of early 20th century continental philosophy and MFA thesis proposals. Nonetheless, this book is Recommended.

About the Author:

Robert Venturi is an award-winning architect and an influential writer, teacher, artist, and designer. His work includes includes the Sainsbury Wing of London's National Galler; renovation of the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; dozens of major academic projects; and the groundbreaking Vanna Venturi House.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0262720299
• ISBN 13: 9780262720298
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 390