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ROBERT VENTURI.

ROBERT CHARLES VENTURI JR. WAS BORN IN JUNE 25, 1925. HE WAS AN AMERICAN ARCHITECT, FOUNDING PRINCIPAL OF THE FIRM VENTURI, SCOTT BROWN AND ASSOCIATES, AND ONE OF THE MAJOR ARCHITEC- TURAL FIGURES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. ENTURI WAS BORN IN PHILADELPHIA TO ROBERT VENTURI SR. AND VANNA (NÉE LUIZ') VENTURI AND WAS RAISED AS A QUAKER(QUAKERS ARE PEOPLE WHO BELONG TO A HISTORICALLY PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN SET OF DENOMINATIONS KNOWN FORMALLY AS THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS). VENTURI ATTENDED SCHOOL AT THE EPISCOPAL ACADEMY IN MERION, PENN- SYLVANIA. HE GRADUATED SUMMA CUM LAUDE FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN 1 947. IN PRINCETON HE WAS A MEMBER-ELECT OF PHI BETA KAPPA AND WON THE D'AMATO PRIZE IN ARCHITECTURE. H ill.

AWARDS: • FELLOW, AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME; 1 954-1 g 56 •AIA MEDAL FOR COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION IN ARCHITECTURE; • FELLOW IN THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, 1 97B • AIA ARCHITECTURE FIRM AWARD, TO VENTURI, RAUCH AND SCOTT BROWN; 1985 • COMMENDATORE OF THE ORDER OF MERIT, REPUBLIC OF ITALY; 1 986 • AIA TWENTY-FIVE YEAR AWARD TO THE VANNA VENTURI HOUSE ; 1 gag • ELECTED TO THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS; 1 990 • THE PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE ; 1 99 1 • NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS, UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL AWARD ; 1 992 (WITH DENISE SCOTT BROWN) • COMMANDEUR DE CORDRE DES ARTS ET LETTRES, REPUBLIQUE FRANQAISE, MINISTäRE DE LA CULTURE ET DE LA COMMUNICATION; 2000 • VINCENT SCULLY PRIZE, NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM ; 2002 (WITH DENISE SCOTT BROWN) • ELECTED TO THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; 2006 • DESIGN MIND AWARD, COOPER-HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS; 2007 (WITH DENISE SCOTT BROWN) • AIA GOLD MEDAL (WITH DENISE SCOTT BROWN) 201 6.

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HE VANNA VENTURI HOUSE, ONE OF THE FIRST PROMINENT WORKS OF THE POSTMODERN ARCHI- TECTURE MOVEMENT, IS LOCATED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF CHESTNUT HILL IN PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. IT WAS DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT ROBERT VENTURI FOR HIS MOTHER, VANNA VENTURI, AND CONSTRUCTED BETWEEN 1 962 AND 1 964..

A CONTROVERSIAL CRITIC OF WHAT HE SAW AS THE BLITHELY FUNCTIONALIST AND SYMBOLICALLY VACUOUS ARCHITECTURE OF CORPORATE MODERNISM DURING THE 1 950S, VENTURI WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ARCHI- TECTS TO QUESTION SOME OF THE PREMISES OF THE MODERN MOVEMENT. HE PUBLISHED HIS "GENTLE MANIFESTO", COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION IN ARCHITECTURE IN 1 966; IN ITS INTRODUCTION, VINCENT SCULLY CALLED IT IIPROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT WRITING ON THE MAKING OF ARCHITECTURE SINCE LE CORBUSIER'S VERS UNE ARCHITECTURE OF 1 923." THE WORK WAS DERIVED FROM COURSE LECTURES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND VENTURI RECEIVED A GRANT FROM THE GRAHAM FOUNDATION IN 1 965 TO AID IN ITS COMPLETION. THE BOOK DEMONSTRATED, THROUGH COUNTLESS EXAMPLES, AN APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING ARCHI- TECTURAL COMPOSITION AND COMPLEXIP,', AND THE RESULTING RICHNESS AND INTEREST. CITING VERNACU- LAR AS WELL AS HIGH-STYLE SOURCES, VENTURI DREW NEW LESSONS FROM THE BUILDINGS OF ARCHITECTS FAMILIAR (MICHELANGELO, ALVAR AALTO) AND, AT THE TIME, FORGOTTEN (FRANK FURNESS, EDWIN LUTYENS). HE MADE A CASE FOR "THE DIFFICULT WHOLE" RATHER THAN THE DIAGRAMMATIC FORMS POPULAR AT THE TIME, AND INCLUDED EXAMPLES — BOTH BUILT AND UNREALIZED — OF HIS OWN WORK TO DEMONSTRATE THE POSSIBLE APPLICATION OF SUCH TECHNIQUES. THE BOOK HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN 1 B LANGUAGES TO DATE..

GUILD HOUSE GUILD HOUSE IS A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN PHILADELPHIA WHICH IS AN IMPORTANT AND INFLUENTIAL WORK OF 20TH-CENTURY ARCHITECTURE AND WAS THE FIRST MAJOR WORK BY ROBERT VENTURI. ALONG WITH THE VANNA VENTURI HOUSE IT IS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE EARLIEST EXPRESSIONS OF POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE, AND HELPED ESTABLISH VENTURI AS ONE OF THE LEADING ARCHITECTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY..

FIRE STATION NO. 4 IN COLUMBUS, INDIANA WAS DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT ROBERT VENTURI. SIGNIFICANT FOR BEING AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE. IT IS ARCHITECTURALLY IN 1 967, VENTURI WAS ASKED BY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS TO DESIGN A FIRE STATION, WHICH WAS TO BE AN "ORDINARY BUILDING THAT WAS EASY TO MAINTAIN". THE DESIGN FEATURES A TRAPEZOIDAL PLAN, WITH A SEMICIRCULAR TOWER SERVING AS THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE BUILDING. NOTABLE ABOUT THIS TOWER IS THE LARGE YELLOW NUMBER 4 WHICH HAS BEEN PLACED ON TOP..

IN HIS 1 966 BOOK, COMPLEXITY AND CON- TRADICTION IN ARCHITECTURE. THE MOST FAMOUS OF THESE WAS "LESS IS A CHEEKY RESPONSE TO "LESS IS MORE," LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE's SUMMARY OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE'S OBSESSION ECONOMY AND RIGOR, wrrH FLAT ROOFS AND FACADES SCRUBBED OF DECORATION. BUT IT'S A DIFFERENT PHRASE FROM THE VENTURI LEXICON THAT BEST SUMS up HIS COMPLICATED LEGACY: THE "BOTH-AND." EARLY IN COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION, HE WRITES, "l AM FOR RICHNESS OF MEANING RATHER THAN CLARITY OF MEANING I PREFER THE 'BOTH-AND' TO 'EITHER-OR BLACK AND WHITE, AND SOMETIMES GRAY, BLACK OR WHITE. " BY "BOTH-AND," VENTURI MEANT AN ARCHI- TECTURE THAT COULD PURSUE MULTIPLE, EVEN SEEMINGLY OPPOSED STRATEGIES AT THE SAME TIME, THAT COULD BE PLAYFUL AND DEEPLY AMBITIOUS OR HISTORICALLY MINDED BUT ALSO NEW. THE GOAL, HE ARGUED, WAS NOT A SIMPLE ELASSED-IN BOX OF A MODERN BUILDING—A STREAMLINED FORM THAT HID ALL THE MESSI- NESS OF GETTING ARCHITECTURE ONE THAT WELCOMED AMBIGUITY AND EMBRACED WHAT HE CALLED "THE DIFFICULT WHOLE." VENTURI WANTED, AWAKEN ARCHITECTS FROM PURE ORDER." AS HE PUT IT, TO "PRIM DREAMS OF COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION IN ARCHITECTURE ROBERT VENTURI THE IDEA OF THE "BOTH-AND" SUGGESTED A NEW PLURALISM, AND MAYBE A NEW TOLERANCE, IN ARCHITECTURE. BUT THE PHRASE TURNED OUT TO HAVE ITS LIMITS. To THE EXTENT THAT VENTURI WAS MAKING AN ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF A KIND OF BIG-TENT POPULISM IN ARCHITEC- TURE, rr WAS A SPACE FOR NEW STYLES INSTEAD OF NEW VOICES, NEW FORMS RATHER THAN NEW PEOPLE. IN FACT, TUCKED INSIDE COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION IS AN ARGUMENT FOR A RENEWED INSULARITY IN THE PROFESSION, A POSITION THAT CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE THE ARCHITECTURAL ACADEMY AND HAMSTRING ITS EFFORTS TO ENGAGE A BROAD PUBLIC. EVEN AS VENTURI USHERED IN A FREER, LESS DOCTRI- NAIRE ARCHITECTURAL CULTURE, HE HELPED PAVE THE WAY FOR A WHITE, MALE, AND CLUBBY PROFESSION TO CLOSE RANKS AGAINST THE OUTSIDE WORLD, AND GROW CLUBBIER STILL..