Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
| Author | Robert Venturi |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Architecture |
Published in English | 1966 |
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture is the title of a book by the American architect Robert Venturi. It was first published in 1966 and has since been translated into 16 languages, and is considered one of the most important works of architectural literature.[1][2] Architectural historian Vincent Scully has singled it out as "probably the most important text on architecture since Le Corbusier's Toward an Architecture in 1923".[3][4]
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture marks a turning point in American architecture and architectural theory. In the early 1980s, Philip Johnson declared, with extravagant insouciance: “Venturi is the most important architect in the world today... He revolutionized architecture with Complexity and Contradiction in the 1960s. He freed us; he untied the chains with one stroke.”[5]
Content
[edit]Most of the book was written in 1962 under a grant from the Graham Foundation,[6] and is seen as a postmodern response to the purism of modernism.[1][4]
The book consists of 11 chapters:[6]
- Nonstraightforward Architecture: A Gentle Manifesto
- Complexity and Contradiction vs. Simplification or Picturesqueness
- Ambiguity
- Contradictory Levels: The Phenomenon of “Both-And” in Architecture
- Contradictory Levels Continued: The Double-Functioning Element
- Accommodation and the Limitations of Order: The Conventional Element
- Contradiction Adapted
- Contradiction Juxtaposed
- The Inside and the Outside
- The Obligation Toward the Difficult Whole
- Works
Awards
[edit]Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture was awarded the 1978 Medal of the American Institute of Architects.[1]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. ribabooks.com. Retrieved 26/11/2024.
- ^ Book Review: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. museumbookstore.com. Retrieved 26/11/2024.
- ^ Martino Stierli. ‘Complexity and Contradiction changed how we look at, think and talk about architecture’. architectural-review.com. 22 December 2016. Retrieved 26/11/2024.
- ^ a b Charles Jencks. Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture Turns 50. architecturalrecord.com. May 1, 2016. Retrieved 03/12/2024.
- ^ Deborah Fausch. Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. tandfonline.com. 04 Dec 2012. Retrieved 03/12/2024.
- ^ a b WebSample Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. assets.moma.org. Retrieved 26/11/2024.
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