Robert Venturi was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1925
He received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Fine Arts at Princeton University
He won a scholarship to the American Academy in Rome and started his own practice in the late 1950′s.He has been in a partnership with John Rauch since 1964 and with Denise Scott Brown, whom he is also married too, since 1967.
He worked under Louis Kahn and also Eero Saarinen in his early career.He was also greatly influenced by Michelangelo, Palladio, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto.
INSPIRATION
History and all of its formal models inspired his creative ideas.
His works respond to context, thus each building tends to look very different and each building learns from its surroundings.
He has been categorized as a part of the Post Modern movement though he tends to discard a few of its beliefs.
Later works favoured the 19th century shingle style of domestic architecture.HIS DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS
simple forms that are sculptured symbolically.
often uses irony and comedy in the overall scheme of the design.
manipulation of the facade; these facades are often monumental and decorative.
works with signs and symbols both graphic design attributes that were often incorporated into his designs.
He has always confronted both context and assimilation in a grand setting. That is his buildings are integrated into the site in a harmonious way.
He has said “I like complexity and contradiction in architecture… based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience, including that experience which is inherent in art.”
IDEALS
Robert Venturi took a familiar Mies van der Rohe saying “less is more” and coined his own version “less is a bore” (a richness of both form and meaning) The concerns of mass culture to the realm of art.
ELEMENTS….
splitting of the traditional gabled house front by separating the parts and recessing the center section.
Venturi also uses large square windows in addition to oversized semi-circular windows in his designs.
These round windows are a reoccurring theme in his work.
His buildings are difficult to assess without thinking of his opinions.
The buildings of 1970’s and 80’s adopted of what Venturi has recommended in creating a language with playful classical quotation.
Example- Philip Johnson and John Burgee- AT & T building, NY.
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