lecture

1. ROBERT VENTIURI
“LESS IS BORE”
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE
SUBMMITED TO –
ARC. FETIH
DAGMAWI YOHANNES
R/313/04

2. RECOMMENDATION
2
2
IN MY UNDERSTANDING
Less is bore theory use much decorative elements ,
aesthetical & express the building in different way but
conversely, less is more is more economical and
functional.
so they have both their own good side ,by combining
this two theory we get a good result .

3. Acknowledgement
FIRST I WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR DEPARTMEN FOR
HELPING US TO HAVE A CHANCE TO KNOW BETTER.
SECONDLY i WOULD LIKE TO THANK MRS.FETHI FOR
GUIDING US. THEN LASTLY
WOULD LIKE ALL MY CLASS MEETS

4. CONTEN
T
• CHARACHTERSTICS • THE FOUNDER OF “LESS IS
MORE”
• ANALYSIS
• CASE STUDYS

5. INTRODUCTIO
N
Postmodernity in architecture is said to be heralded by the return of
"wit, ornament and reference" to architecture in response to the
formalism of the International Style of modernism.
functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the modernist style
are replaced by diverse aesthetics: styles collide, form is adopted for
its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space
abound. Postmodernism with its diversity possesses sensitivity to the
building’s context and history, and the client’s requirements.
Postmodern architecture is characterized by the incorporation of
historical details in a hybrid rather than a pure style, by the use of
decorative elements, by a more personal and exaggerated style, and by
references to popular modes of building. Postmodern architecture
was an international style whose first examples are generally cited as
being from the 1950s, and which continues to influence present-day
architecture

6. INTRODUCTIO
N
Postmodern architecture is characterized by the incorporation of
historical details in a hybrid rather than a pure style, by the use of
decorative elements, by a more personal and exaggerated style, and by
references to popular modes of building.

7. Postmodern Architect
•Architects
•Theorists
•Teachers
•Award Winner
•was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania in 1925.

8. He attended the Episcopal Academy in
Philadelphia and graduated from
Princeton University. He worked with
Eero Saarinen and Louis I. Kahn before
he founded his own practice in 1958. In
1964 he formed a partnership with
John Rausch.
Although Venturi has designed
many buildings, his theories have
created more impact. Based on the
philosophy of 'complexity and
contradiction'.

9. Venturi’s Books
•Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)
–Explores physical reactions to forms and is
understanding in methods
–Is concerned with the function of sign in
human art (buildings) and is
fundamentally linguistic in its approach
•Learning from Las Vegas (1972)

10. A Gentle Manifesto
• “I like complexity and contradiction in architecture”
• “I do not like the incoherence or arbitrariness of incompetent
architecture nor the precious intricacies of picturesqueness or
expressionism”
• “Richness and ambiguity of modern experience”
• “A valid architecture evokes many levels of meaning and
combinations of focus: its space and its elements become
readable and workable in several ways at once”
• “Must embody the difficult unity of inclusion rather than the easy
unity of exclusion” (more is not less)

11. ROBERT VENTURI’S THEORIES
 In contrast to many modernists, Venturi uses
a form of symbolically decorated architecture
based on precedents. He believes that
structure and decoration should remain
separate entities and that decoration should
reflect the culture in which it exists
As Venturi's “gentle manifesto for a
nonstraightforward architecture,” Complexity and
Contradiction in Architecture expresses in the most
compelling and original terms the postmodern rebellion
against the purism of modernism.
response to the famous Modernist architect Mies
van der Rohe’s claim that, “less is more.”

12. MIES VS VENTIURI
• pure
• clean
• straightforward
• articulated
• designed
• excluding
• simple
• hybrid …………………..
• compromising …………
• distorted ………………..
• ambiguous …………….
• conventional …………..
• accommodating ……….
• redundant ………………
• inconsistent and equivocal
• messy vitality ……………
• richness of meaning ……
• both-and …………………
• black, white and grey …..
• implicit function …………
• direct and clear
• obvious unity
• clarity of meaning
• either-or
• black and white
• explicit function

13. Complexity and Contradiction vs.
Simplification or Picturesqueness
• “Less is More” disregards complexity and
justify exclusion for expressive purpose
• Permit the architect to be highly selective
in determining which problem [he wants]
to solve
• Resulted in oversimplification
Complexity Oversimplification
Selective

14. In favor of messy vitality in architecture
Believed in aesthetic ambiguity and visual tension
Postmodern vision: “both-and” rather than “either-or”

18. 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.
Robert Venturi 1966 (Architect)

19. Oversimplifying
freedom of free-flowing open space
Clarity
No use of over decoration
No use of monument on building
No use of icon on the building
Instead they use it near the building
There is clarity b/n outdoor and
indoor
They let the architectural of the
building speak loudly
They create in simply less thing a lot
of art and meaning

20. Postmodernism Vs. Modernism Postmodern
architecture-was an international style that was
first cited in the 1950s, but did not become a
movement until the late 1970s.
It began as a response to the perceived blandness
of the Modern Movement, which focused primarily
on: perfection harmony of form and function
dismissal of unnecessary ornaments not looking to
any past historical references or methods of
construction Modernism did not account for the
desire of beauty! They focused on functionalism
and economical building This meant that
ornaments were stripped away, and as a result
buildings came to have a stark, rational
appearance.
Postmodernists felt the buildings of modern
architecture failed to meet the human need of
comfort for both: the body and the eye !

21.  The Solution to Modernism Architects started turning away from Modern Functionalism. They viewed it as boring,
unwelcoming, and even unpleasant. Postmodernists sought to cure this by reintroducing ornament and decoration
for its own sake. Form was no longer defined only by its functional requirements it now could be anything the
architect pleased! It replaced the functional and formalized shapes seen in the modernist movement by: The use of
diverse aesthetics, different styles colliding, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles

22. • Robert Venturi Robert Venturi was at the head of the Postmodern
Movement He is known for re-wording the famous saying of Mies van der
Rohe’s: “Less is more” to "Less is a bore." In his book, Complexity and
Contradiction in Architecture, he states: “Architects can bemoan or try to
ignore them (referring to the ornamental and decorative elements in
buildings) or even try to abolish them, but they will not go away. Or they will
not go away for a long time, because architects do not have the power to
replace them (nor do they know what to replace them with).”

23. • Robert Venturi He goes on to explain the need for ornament in his second book
called Learning from Las Vegas (published in 1972). Venturi states decorative
elements “accommodate existing needs for variety and communication”. He stresses
that the building needs to communicate a meaning to the public. Postmodernists in
general strive to achieve this communication through their buildings. This
communication however is not intended to be a direct narration of the meaning.
Venturi goes on to explain that it is rather intended to be a communication that
could be interpreted in many ways. Because work of such quality will have many
dimensions and layers of meaning.

25. CRITIC
S
L. Mies van der Rohe: “Less is more.”
Post-Modernism introduced a challenge to an architecture or a
design culture of minimalism and abstraction, an architecture
dominated by the taste of its architects.
Robert Venturi: “Less is a bore.”
Venturi argued that great architecture is not characterized by
unity and simplicity.
In his book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, first
published by the Museum of Modern Art in 1966, Venturi made
a case for creating architecture that has the same characteristics
as great poetry in which words and phrases often have multiple
meanings, layers of interpretation, and irony as enriching factors.
Referring to the literary criticism of T. S. Eliot, Venturi argued
that great architecture should be “complex and contradictory.”

28. Vanna Venturi House
 Venturi's first important project to be built was his mother's house, the
Vanna Venturi House of 1961-1964
This building recognizes
complexities and contradiction: it is
both complex and simple, open and
closed, big and little;some of its
elements are good at one level and
bad on another; its order
accommodates the generic elements
of the house in general, and the
circumstantial elements of a house
in particular.

29. The front,in its conventional
combinations of door, windows, chimneys
and gable, creates an almost symbolic
image of a house.
The inside spaces as represented in
plan and section, are complex and
distorted in their shapes and
interrelationships. On the other hand,
the outside form-as represented by the
parapeted wall and the gable roof which
encloses the complexities and
distortions-is simple and consistent
The contradiction between inside and
outside, however, is not total: inside, the
plan as a whole reflects the symmetrical
consistency of the outside; outside the
perforations in the elevations reflect
the circumstantial distortions within.

30. In plan, two vertical elements- the fireplace-chimney and the stair-
compete, as it were, for the central position.
The varying locations and sizes and shapes of the windows and
perforations on the outside walls, as well as the off-center locations of the
chimney, contradict the overall symmetry of the outside form.
The windows are balanced on each side of the dominating entrance
opening and chimney-clerestory element in the front, and the window in the
back, but they are assymetrical.
The abstract composition of this building almost equally combines
rectangular, diagonal, and curving elements.
The rectangles relate to the just dominant order of the spaces in plan and
sections
The diagonals relate to the directional spaces at the entrance
The curves relate to the directional-spatial needs at the entry and
outside stair.
The exceptional point in the plan refers to the expedient column support,
which contrasts with the otherwise wall bearing structure of the whole

36. Gordon Wu Hall
 The interior of the building was planned to provide opportunities for
informal, intimate and spontaneous social interaction.
The long dining room with a tall
bay window at its end provides a
sense of grandeur and recalls
Princeton's Neo-Gothic dining halls
At the entry lobby a stairway
leads past another large bay window
to a lounge, administrative offices
and library on the upper floor.
The first flight of stairs unexpectedly extends to one side to form
bleacher-like risers suitable for sitting. The extended stairwell suggests
a grand stair sweeping upward, but serves informally as a spontaneous
waiting and gathering place. On special occasions it becomes an indoor
amphitheater

38. Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery of Art
London, UK
Built on the last open space on Trafalgar Square, the Sainsbury
Wing houses one of the world's greatest and most visited collections
of early Italian and Northern Renaissance paintings.
The Sainsbury Wing contains a new and more generous entry,
providing grade access to the entire National Gallery. This ground-
level entrance is not only accessible to all people, but, in contrast to
the original structure, appears accessible — an important
consideration as museums reach out to ever-growing and diverse
audiences
The galleries are laid out in a gently implied hierarchy of small,
medium and large rooms, each lit by a delicately balanced and
automatically controlled combination of natural and artificial light.

40. Clinical Research Building,
School of Medicine,
University of Pennsylvania
This is a scientific laboratory as a generic loft accommodating
spatial and mechanical flexibility for research and unobtrusive
backgrounds for concentration and communication within an
academic community.
Incidental communication to promote community among the users is
enhanced via occasional meeting places or niches that fall within the
circulation system.
The outside achieves aesthetic quality appropriate for an urban
campus via consistent but complex rhythms deriving from repetitive
bays and windows and from surface ornament within its brick and
cast-stone surfaces and also via exceptions to the order at the
entrance and at the ends and top of the building.

41.  One of his first projects to be built that captured the
attention of the architectural community was a house for his
mother in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania In 1989, it received the AIA's Twenty-five Year
Award as a design of "enduring significance that has
withstood the test of time."
ROBERT VENTURI’S THEORIES
 In contrast to many modernists, Venturi uses a form of
symbolically decorated architecture based on precedents.
He believes that structure and decoration should remain
separate entities and that decoration should reflect the
culture in which it exists
 In contradiction, Venturi also considers symbolism
unnecessary since modern technology and historical
symbolism rarely harmonize

42.  Although Venturi considers himself an architect of Western
classical tradition, he claims that architectural rules have
changed. He rejects a populist label, but in Learning from Las
Vegas he shifted from an intellectual critique of Modernism in
terms of complexity to an ironic acceptance of the "kitsch of
high capitalism" as a form of vernacular. His theories have
generated the populist aesthetic of the recent Post-
Modernism.

44. The Critique of
the Modernist Project
The Birth of Post-Modernism

45. Chestnut Hill, Vanna Venturi House, 1963, Robert Venturi

51. L. Mies van der Rohe: “Less is more.”
Post-Modernism introduced a challenge to an architecture or a
design culture of minimalism and abstraction, an architecture
dominated by the taste of its architects.
Robert Venturi: “Less is a bore.”
Venturi argued that great architecture is not characterized by
unity and simplicity.
In his book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, first
published by the Museum of Modern Art in 1966, Venturi made
a case for creating architecture that has the same characteristics
as great poetry in which words and phrases often have multiple
meanings, layers of interpretation, and irony as enriching factors.
Referring to the literary criticism of T. S. Eliot, Venturi argued
that great architecture should be “complex and contradictory.”
“complex and contradictory.”

52. Philadelphia, Guild House, 1961-3, Robert Venturi

54. Guild House introduced the notion that the taste of the client is
more important than the taste of the architect. Especially in this
kind of urban context, new buildings should not threaten older
buildings; nor should they make the belongings of the
inhabitants seem out of place.
In other words, context is as important as content or intention.
The concept of context began to have an impact on many
architects. While Venturi considered the design of Guild House
in the context of its urban setting and the lives of its intended
occupants, other architects began to consider such things as
history, vernacular tradition, and an inherited sense of place as
contextual. Context offered a matrix for creating complex,
contradictory, layered, and multi-valent architecture.