ROBERT VENTURI

•Schooling and education:

Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pennsylvania.

•Worked Under:
Eero Sarinen and Louis kahn.

Venturi was the pioneer of post moderm architecture, being highly critical of
modernism which was rooted in minimal use of material and lack of any
ornamentation.
In his style of architecture he advocates a symbolic and sophisticated formal
language with which modern man might more easily identify.
He believed that modernism degenerated into an anonymous product, epitomized
by monotonous glass skyscrapers and based on an efficiency of construction
fostered by capitalist speculation.
• Robert Venturi drew
comparisons of
analogous but not
obvious relationships
which were used as a
design tool, and disparate
influences—such as the These varied
historical architecture of sources helped them
Rome and the to rediscover what
commercial architecture they called the
of Las Vegas—were forgotten
embraced with equal symbolism of
enthusiasm and respect. architecture, a
concept that modern
architects had
rejected in favor of
an abstract aesthetic
 GUILD HOUSE
1961-65
•The guild house was not only a utilarian
artifact but it also had a reflective function. It
was architecture about reality – the reality of
the city, of old age, and how contemporary
society deals with these issues.
•It couples the practical with the theoretical in
a most uncompromising, pragmatic manner.
•The plan was from the point of view of room dimensions, circulation,
lobby materials and detailing, stripped to a minimal while all basic needs
of the elderly concerning comfort and safe were satisfied in complete
accordance with standards of that time.
•The objective of community was enhanced by an unusually large space
placed at the top floor , in contrast to relegating this kind of room to the
basement.
•The most simple aesthetic means were chosen in order to have least
interference with the functional requirements.

PLAN
• Inexpensive red clay brick
matches an adjacent warehouse, but the brick
nearest the sidewalk is of a different size from
that where the facade meets the street. The
dark walls with double-hung windows recall
traditional city row houses, but the effect of
the windows is uncommon due to their subtle,
unusually big proportions.
The pretensions of the ‘giant
order’ on the front, the
symmetrical, palazzolike
composition with its three
monumental stories (as well as
its six real stories), topped by a
piece of sculpture—or almost
sculpture—suggest something of
the heroic and original. It is true
that in this case the heroic and
original facade is somewhat
ironical, but it is this
juxtaposition of contrasting
symbols—the appliqué of one
order of symbols on another—
that constitutes for us the
decorated shed. This is what
makes Guild House an
architect’s decorated shed
 THE VANNA VENTURI HOUSE
1961-63
A minimal suburban
house which stands on a
flat open site in
Philadelphia.
While the building has
been labeled as artless
and ugly, it has also been
recognized as a major
work that opened a new
era in architecture.
The architect describes the house in
terms of conflict and paradox.
The contradictory juxtapositions of
“complex and simple” , “open and
close”, “big and little” represent
architectural strategies of composition
rather than qualities physically present
in their work.
•Though the overall facade
with the gable roof is
symmetrically conceived,
symmetry is broken by
unbalanced windows and an
off-center chimney.
There is no coherence between the internal organization and
of the house and its outside envelope.
The front and the back walls appear appliqué rather than
opening from the inside. While they are plane and planar,
the two sides are busy and fragmented.

•The interior is complex,

compact and almost crowded.
The fire place is too big and
the mantle is too high for the
size of the room.

•The entrance loggia is wide,

high and central; Its overscale
is emphasized by the contrast
with other doors and with its
shallowness.

• The applied wood molding

over the door increases its
scale too. The dado also
increases the scale of the
building by being higher than
The basic rectangularity
of the interior partitions
is contrasted by
segmenting diagonals of
entry and circulation,
describing the
segmental wood trim
pediment as an
ornament whose
purpose is to contrast
with diagonal shapes of
the roof in order to
magnify the scale of the
entrance and to stress
the planarity of the
stucco wall.

In its plan an interior multiplicity is distorted to fit its
rigid bounds and forced to accommodate its exterior
symmetry.
It contains things behind things in
elevation: An interior multiplicity
appropriate for a house protruding
beyond the parapets of its two parallel
and manifesting itself in irregular
positions of its windows.

PLAN
The result of this inclusiveness is the manifest of complexity as
well as the contradiction of the final design.

Complexity and contradiction are the by-products of the

overriding goal to achieve a richer, closer to artifact.

The work is paradigmatic not only in terms of the goals it defines

for architecture but also for the methodological design mean it
suggests.
The Episcopal Academy was founded in
Philadelphia in 1795 and subsequently
established campuses outside the city in
Devon and Merion.  In 2001, they
acquired land to relocate both campuses
to a single parcel in Newtown Square --
123 acres of woods, wetlands, and
former farmland.

The chapel is immediately

identifiable and symbolic of the new
campus, yet also a well-used and
highly-functional school facility.  Its
distinctive form is composed of
many layers -- of masonry walls and
soaring clerestories.  The spaces
between these layers allow
circulation and light.  The
impressive and gently monumental
scale of the building is softened by
striped patterns at pedestrian-level
Inside, the 15,000 square foot chapel’s fan-shaped plan allows worshipers to face each other as
well as the altar, nurturing a sense of togetherness and community. 

This was a configuration endorsed by the chaplain at the beginning of the design process.
The chapel serves as an important facet of life at Episcopal
Academy.  Upper and middle school students attend
Chapel three days a week, lower school students attend
once a week.  While the service celebrates the Episcopalian
heritage, it serves and welcomes students of all faiths.