Robert Venturi's philosophies and his works

2. I like elements which are hybrid rather than
„pure‟, compromising rather than „clean‟,
distorted rather than „straightforward‟,
ambiguous rather than „articulated‟,
perverse as well as impersonal, boring as
well as „interesting‟, conventional rather
than „designed‟, accommodating rather
than excluding, vestigial as well as well as
innovating, inconsistent and equivocal
rather than direct and clear.

3. ROBERT CHARLES VENTURI, JR.
 Born – June 25,1925
 American architect, founding principal of the
firm “Venturi”, Scott Brown and associates, and
one of the major architectural figures in the
twentieth century.
 Their buildings, planning, theoretical writings and
teaching have contributed to the expansion of
discourse about architecture.
 Awarded the Pritzker Prize In architecture in 1991
 Known for coining the maxim “Less Is A Bore" a
postmodern antidote to Mies Van Der Rohe's
famous modernist dictum "Less Is More".

4. CHARACTERISTICS
 Venturi's buildings typically juxtapose
architectural systems, elements and aims, to
acknowledge the conflicts often inherent in a
project or site
Robert Venturi is known for incorporating
stylized cultural icons into his buildings.
However, Venturi is recognized for much more
than postmodernist designs.
The firm has completed more than 400 projects,
each uniquely suited to the special needs of the
clients.

5. DESIGN PHILOSOPHIES
Designs are eclectic i.e. draws inspiration from
varied sources, such as historic design styles and
popular culture, including contemporary
commercial architecture and advertising.
 Combines design elements in unexpected ways
 Incorporates cultural icons into his building
 Against the Modernist tendency to treat
buildings as solitary objects without regard for their
settings, he argued that a building derives meaning
from its context, and different contexts require
different forms of architectural expression.

6. SHODHAN
HOUSE-
is closed yet
open-a cube
Villa savoye-
IS SIMPLE OUTSIDE
YET COMPLEX
INSIDE
DESIGN PHILOSOPHIES
 COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION Vs
SIMPLIFICATION OR PICTURESQUENESS
Forced simplicity results in oversimplification
Less is bore
 AMBIGUITY
An architectural element is perceived as form
,structure, texture and material - sources of ambiguity
and tension characteristic to the medium of
architecture
 CONTRADICTORY LEVELS: THE PHENOMENON OF
„BOTH –AND‟ IN ARCHITECTURE
It involves the contrast metamorphosis as well as the
contradiction
It relates the part to the whole
VILLA SAVOYE-
Is simple outside
yet complex inside

7. Design PHILOSOPHIES
 CONTRADICTORY LEVELS CONTINUED:THE DOUBLE
FUNCTIONING ELEMENT
It pertains to the particulars of the use and structure
 ACCOMMODATION AND THE LIMITATIONS OF
ORDER:THE CONVENTIONAL ELEMENT
eg-The arches and pilasters maintains itself against
the sudden impositions of "whimsical" windows and
asymmetrical voids.
 CONTRADICTION ADAPTED
It adopts or comprises elements or it can be adopted
by using contrasting superimposed or adjacent
elements
 CONTRADICTION JUXTAPOSED
juxtapose directions creates rhythmic complexity and
contradiction-contains opposites within a whole
The juxtaposition of diagonals and perpendicular also
create contradictory directions
The arches not
originally part of
the visual
expression
generates a wall
structurally double
functioning
MILL OWNER‟S
ASSOCIATION

8. Design PHILOSOPHIES
 INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
The purpose of the interiors is to enclose rather than
direct space.the inside is different from the outside
Sometimes the contraction is between the top and the
bottom‟eg-curving domes and rectangular base
THE OBLIGATION TOWARDS THE DIFFICULT WHOLE
Holkham Hall achieves an extensive whole through the
addition of similar wholes which are always
independent: most of its bays are pedimented
pavilions which could stand alone as single buildings
Holkham Hall could almost be three buildings in a row.
HOLKHAM HALL

9. PROJECT NAME
VANNA VENTURI HOUSE
CONSTRUCTION YEAR
1964
ARCHITECT
ROBERT VENTURI
PROJECT CATEGORY
RESIDENTIAL
LOCATION
8330 MILLMAN ST,
PHILADELPHIA, USA
VANNA VENTURI
HOUSE

10.  One of the first
prominent works of the
postmodern architecture
movement, is located in the
neighbourhood of
Chestnut hill in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 Designed by architect
Robert Venturi for his
mother Vanna Venturi
 The house was sold in
1973 and remains a
private residence.

11. STRUCTURAL DETAILS
•The five room house stands only about 30
feet (9 m) tall at the top of the chimney, but
has a monumental front façade.
• A non-structural appliqué arch and "hole in
the wall" windows, among other elements,
were challenge to modernist orthodoxy.
• The house is designed around a chimney
that is centralised and goes all the way to the
top of the house.
•Externally, the house is built symmetrical.
Venturi has distorted this idea of symmetry.
•There is also a basement underneath the
house that is often not uncovered by people.

12. ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
 The basic elements of the house
are a reaction against standard
modernist architectural elements:
- pitched roof rather than flat roof,
- emphasis on central hearth &
chimney,
- closed ground floor "set firmly on
ground" rather than modernist
columns & glass walls which open
up the ground floor.
-On the front elevation the broken
pediment or gable & a purely
ornamental applique arch reflect
return to mannerist architecture
and a rejection of modernism.

13. ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
 House is a composition of
rectangular, curvilinear, and
diagonal elements coming
together (or sometimes juxtaposing
each other) in a way that
inarguably creates complexity and
contradiction.

14. ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
 In order to create more
contradiction and complexity, Venturi
experimented with scale.
 Inside the house certain elements are
“too big,” such as the size of the
fireplace and the height of the mantel
compared to the size of the room.
-Doors are wide and low in height,
especially in contrast to the grandness
of the entrance space.
- Venturi also minimized circulation
space in the design of the house, so
that it consisted of large distinct rooms
with minimum subdivisions between
them.

15. PROJECT NAME
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART
MUSEUM
CONSTRUCTION YEAR
1917
ARCHITECT
CASS GILBERT
PROJECT CATEGORY
MUSEUM
LOCATION
OBERLIN, OHIO
ALLEN MEMORIAL
ART MUSEUM

16.  Primarily a teaching
museum, and a vital cultural
resource for the students,
faculty, and staff of Oberlin
College
 It was designed by Cass
Gilbert ,but additions were
made by Venturi and
Associates .
 Constructed to meet the
growing needs of both the
museum and Art
department.

17.  Venturi had to address the
necessary and daily
functions of the museum
while maintaining a visual flow
with the old building
 Done by the use of coloured
pink granite and sandstone
serves as a visual cue to
associate the two structures
synthetically.
 Venturi wanted to unify the
physical actualities of site
and situation to the design of
the building, creating
structures which reflect their
function in a playful and
harmonious way.

18. The addition served four
primary purposes:
 to add a large gallery to the
existing museum,
 to increase facilities for the
Art department,
 to rehouse the art library,
 and to renovate the existing
museum with a print study
room and new storage
facilities.
MUSEUM
EXHIBITION
GALLERY
LIBRARY AND FACILITIES
FOR ART DEPTT.

19. ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
The Art Museum is a
mixture of Beaux-Art
ideals and Italian
Renaissance design.
 The building has the
appearance of an Italian
villa:
- strict symmetry,
- classical arches, and
- support by columns.

20.  The checkerboard pattern of
the front piece of Venturi‟s
addition is immediately
noticeable
 Continuity in color and
geometric ornamentation that
link the two buildings.
 The red granite and
sandstone checkers of Venturi
take up the theme from Gilbert,
visually filling in the red
geometric rectangular outlines
on the tan sandstone of the
façade.

21. IRONIC COLUMN
 Venturi is known for his references to
architectural terms using humorous
analogies such as “Decorated Sheds” and
“Ducks”.
 “Ironic” column - a short,
stubby column cover composed of vertical
wood boards capped with ionic capital.
 Two large windows, one of which reveals a
view of the „Ironic column‟ allow the
museum visitor to orient themselves to a
real and outside world within the „sacred
spaces‟ allowed for in the museum itself.
 Serves the functional purpose of
concealing a steel support beam

22. PROJECT NAME
EPISCOPAL ACADEMY CHAPEL
CONSTRUCTION YEAR
2008
ARCHITECT
VENTURI, SCOTT &
ASSOCIATES
PROJECT CATEGORY
CHAPEL
LOCATION
NEWTON SQUARE,
PENNYSYLVANIA, UNITED
STATES
EPISCOPAL
ACADEMY CHAPEL

23. Inside the 15,000 square foot
chapel‟s fan – shaped plan allows
worshipers to face each other as
well as the altar.

24. CHANCEL
AISLE
MAIN ENTRANCES - 3

25. THE SPACES BETWEEN THESE LAYERS OF MASONRY WALLS ALLOW CIRCULATION AND LIGHT

26. INTERIOR
 The interior is lit by means of two level of clerestory windows.
 Over-lapping layers of walls, which allow indirect light to create aura

27. His desire was never to take architecture back literally to the
styles of the past
Venturi's architecture has never been driven by the desire to
replicate the past; where he uses historical form, it is with
the goal of integrating it into a wide-ranging and, in the end,
contemporary whole.
His architecture seems difficult to many people.
It isn't particularly simple or easy, and it isn't always pretty.

28. REFERRENCES
www.nytimes.com
www.archinomy.com
Articles.philly.com
Pinterest.com
Episcopalcademy.org
Archdaily.com
Complexity and contradiction in architecture