From Palladio to Oldemburg: symbolism and communication in Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown’s houses

Abstract

From the critical analyses conducted by Alan Colquhoun in 1978 and Rafael Moneo in 2004 on the production of the architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown, we propose an investigation of the modifications observed in their work, especially in single-family homes. For this purpose, we will examine four residential projects in an attempt to associate them with the theoretical production of those architects, from the first ideas expressed by Venturi in Complexity and contradiction in architecture to the populist turn that, in partnership with Scott-Brown and Steven Izenour, is embodied in the pop text of Learning from Las Vegas. We will also search, in the cultural determinants of the time - looking mainly through the communicative lens of Marshall McLuhan - justifications for the changes observed in the conceptual foundations and the way in which they translated into projective operatives that eventually impacted on the production of the couple of architects.