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Robert Venturi's Disorderly Ode
By Robert Venturi
Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates
September 2001
First, we must all feel uneasy focusing on issues here that are almost trivial
in the context of this particular time in this particular city. But then,
in some ways having life go on--while at the same time mourning the tragedy
and strategizing concerning the tragedy (as it has been put)--is, in some
ways, not inappropriate.
Second, Denise and I want to recognize on this occasion Steven Izenour,
our brilliant and dedicated friend and colleague over many decades who was
so creative within our lives and within our work and whose early death last
month has devastated us and many others.
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BASCO Showroom by Venturi Scott Brown Associates, built in 1976.
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1585 Broadway, the world headquarters of Morgan Stanley by Gwathmey,
Siegel & Associates and Emery Roth & Sons, 1989.
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Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Plaza by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates,
2001. The building was initially built for Morgan Stanley, but it was bought
by Lehman Brothers, who are the current owners.
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Whitehall Ferry Terminal design by Venturi Scott Brown, 1995.
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At the same time Denise and I must recognize here our other friends and
colleagues who comprise our office and who make our work significantly what
it has been and is. Also we all must realize Denise Scott Brown and I are
partners--equal partners--involving design and ideas and all the other dimensions
that engage the practice of architecture.
All of us love understanding and appreciation of our work and our ideas.
We are grateful, especially grateful, for [Metropolis
contributing editor] Barbara Flanagan's generous and elegant article in
the current [October 2001] issue of Metropolis. And then there's
Metropolis itself, without whose support this event could not
have happened, and which we also profoundly appreciate. We also thank
all those who've made this event happen including the City University of
New York, Hines [the development firm founded by Gerald D. Hines], the
New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and our
friends and patrons Elise Jaffe and Jeff Brown. And we say thank you to
the participants here today.
Concerning our work and ideas, there has been non-comprehension or misunderstanding
over time. Mannerism is hard to understand, despite our straightforward
way of writing, and Pop content is hard to take, as is iconography--we wonder
if anyone knows the meaning of the word. And hey! Referring to historical
architecture in our comparative analyses doesn't involve promoting historical
revival architecture in our time. Therefore we are not Postmodernists and
haven't been!
Another hey! Concerning pragmatism, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
[by Robert Venturi, Museum of Modern Art and Graham Foundation, 1966; second
printing 2002], teems with pragmatism, as a word and as method and content,
and in Iconography And Electronics Upon A Generic Architecture: A View
From The Drafting Room [also by Venturi, MIT Press, 1996], it's all
over the place!
And a last hey! There has been some forgetting as well as misunderstanding.
For instance, the new Museum of Modern Art in Queens, New York [which opened
in spring 2002], reminds me--I think I can remember this far back--of BASCO
Showroom in Philadelphia constructed in 1976!
And then there are two buildings in New York City, one at 1585 Broadway,
the world headquarters of Morgan Stanley [Gwathmey, Siegel & Associates
and Emery Roth & Sons, 1989] and the other on Seventh Avenue, the Morgan
Stanley Dean Witter Plaza building [Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, 2001]
as great examples of iconographic architecture at last! Yet the design for
the Whitehall Ferry Terminal of the mid-1990s is forgotten because it was
never acknowledged in the press.
But let me conclude here not with a lecture--we've already written a lot
of books explaining our positions. Let me conclude with an ode, an ode that
will, I hope, describe in a lyrical way and, I hope, a witty way (not in
a pedantic way) our ideas evolving over the years. At the end of it you
might be relieved to hear Denise's description of particular dimensions
of our work and ideas in prose.
You will note in this ode I engage comparison again, as a method of clarification--not
to be negative but to be clear--because what we're not makes what we are
more comprehensible and vivid.
And accompanying the ode will be projected on the screen a series of images
depicting what we call "loves": what we love, what inspires us,
the range of which--from Michelangelos to bungalows--derives from our freedom
and tolerance as artists and thinkers, freedom from the restrictions of
ideology!
Now for the ode:
A Disorderly Ode to Architecture That Engages
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Mannerism - rather than Modernism |
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Mannerism - rather than Expressionism |
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Mannerism - rather than Minimalism |
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Or modernism that is mannerism |
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Iconography - rather than Expressionism |
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Iconography - rather than scenography |
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Iconographic Meaning - rather than Abstract Expression |
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Architecture as Communication - rather than as Space |
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For the Information Age - rather than the Industrial Age |
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Viva Electronic Technology - rather than Industrial Technology! |
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Details engaging dynamic Electronic Pixels ornamenting surfaces - rather than static Shades and Shadows articulating forms |
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The façade that Emits light - rather than Reflects light |
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That engages Symbol - rather than Abstraction |
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That engages Meaning - rather than Expression |
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Information - rather than Expression |
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Decorative Informational Signage - rather than Decorative Industrial Rocaille including decorative sagging guywires |
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Digital pixels as a medium of information - rather than ornamental rivets - as symbols of exotic teats? |
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Identity via dynamic electronic technology rather than via static dramatical form |
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Inspiration deriving from Commercial vernacular of now - rather than from Industrial vernacular of then |
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Real Modern - rather than Baroque Modern |
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Vital - rather than Visionary |
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Good - rather than Original |
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Contextual - rather than Universal |
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Electronic Sparkle - rather than Electric Glow |
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Discovering the Familiar - rather than Stalking the Exotic |
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Ordinary as Extraordinary - rather than Extraordinary as Ordinary |
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Incidental Originality - rather than Overt Originality |
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Real Avant Garde - rather than Rear Avant Garde |
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Try to Solve - rather than try to Impress |
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Architecture as the Subject of Theory - rather than Architecture as the Victim of Theory |
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Architecture - rather than Arconcepture |
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Dissonant - rather than Crazy |
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Frozen Music - rather than Frenzied Music |
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Frozen Music - rather than Frozen Theory |
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Messy Vitality - rather than Prissy Urbanism |
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"Decorate Construction" - rather than "Construct Decoration" - as Pugin put it |
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Multiple Taste Cultures - rather than Universal Good Taste |
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Vitality - rather than Taste |
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Flexible Loft - rather than Unique Masterpiece |
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Realism - as well as Idealism |
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Exceptions that Prove the Rule - rather than Abolish the Rule |
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Generic - rather than Signature |
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Generic loft - rather than articulated form |
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Generic shelter - rather than articulated sculpture |
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The Decorated Shed - rather than the Long Island Duck |
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Richness - rather than purity |
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Convention - as well as Invention |
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Accommodate function -- rather than follow function - the building as mitten rather than as glove |
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Flexible generic architecture - rather than coercive signature architecture |
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"Ugly and Ordinary" - as well as Heroic and Original |
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Programmatic accommodation - rather than ideological imposition |
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Pragmatism as method - rather than pragmatism as ideology |
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Mass culture - as well as high culture |
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Incidental originality - rather than overt originality |
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Master planning - rather than landscape prettification |
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Mess is more - rather than less is more |
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Authentic complexity and contradiction - rather than expressive complexity and contradiction |
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Second glance architecture - as well as Wow! |
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Joyous - as well as Serious |
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Architecture - rather than ideology |
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Architecture as craft - rather than as abstraction |
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Circumstance - as well as order |
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Dissonance - as well as harmony |
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Rich ambiguity - rather than esoteric complexity |
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Realism - rather than minimalism |
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Urban design - rather than urban prettification |
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Elemental shelter - rather than arty sculpture |
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Viva social/economic dimensions - as well as aesthetic dramatic dimensions |
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Architecture as electronic digital glitter - rather than as electric glowing cubes |
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Façade as a computer screen - rather than as a Mondrian |
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Valid-Modernism - rather than Neo-Modernism |
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Pragmatic - rather than ideological |
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Electronic Iconography as a new technology for an old tradition in architecture |
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Interaction spaces that are incidental - rather than dramatique - rather than atria |
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Viva evolution as well as revolution |
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Viva chaotic vitality - over ideological unity |
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Viva Times Square as the Piazza San Marco of the Electronic Age |
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Viva the hype sensibility of our time |
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Viva buildings that look like buildings - that are naughty rather than nutty - mannerist rather than expressionist |
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And finally, perhaps for our new Age of Terrorism, architecture as electronic-generic shelter more than architecture as formal-sculptural monument |
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End of "Disorganized Ode" and final note: Beyond that, perhaps
because the September 11th event is so significant and profound in all its
dimensions and ramifications and one with so little precedent, shouldn't
we wait to absorb the depth and range of its significance and our society's
emotional responses to it rather than blurt out prematurely what might turn
out to be superficially grand ideas for its symbolic/urban/architectural
strategy and commemoration? Is not now the time to deal with the immediate,
as well as to absorb? It is not the time to talk, but to think.
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Related Stories: |
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Scott Brown, Denise, Measuring Downtown's Future, The New York Times, August 16, 2002. |
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Scott Brown, Denise, What Shall We Do About the World Trade Center? MetropolisMag.com, April 8, 2002. |
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Venturi, Robert, The World Trade Center: Hesitant Thoughts, MetropolisMag.com, April 8, 2002. |
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Milgrom, Melissa, Learning from Steve Izenour, Metropolis Magazine, January 2002. |
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Flanagan, Barbara, Born to be Bad, Metropolis Magazine, October 2001. |
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Ringen, Jonathan, Lapidus of Luxury, Metropolis Magazine, January 2001, pp.58-61. |
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Bischoff, Dan, Signs of the Times, Metropolis Magazine, February-March 1998. |
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To Order Back Issues of Metropolis: |
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www.metropolismag.com/html/archives/back_issue_form.html |
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VSBA's Bibliography: |
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www.vsba.com/whoweare/index_biblio.html |
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Selected Writings: |
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Scott Brown, Denise, Urban Concepts, Architectural Design Profile
60, London: Academy Editions; distributed in U.S. by St. Martin's Press,
January-February 1990. |
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Venturi, Robert, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, New
York: Museum of Modern Art and Graham Foundation, 1966. |
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Venturi, Robert, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour, Learning from Las Vegas, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1972. |
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Venturi, Robert, Iconography And Electronics Upon A Generic Architecture: A View From The Drafting Room, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996. |
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