What Las Vegas Teaches: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form

Published by Şevki Vanlı Architecture Foundation Publications and translated by Serpil Merzi Özaloğlu, Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form is Venturi’s second book, written with two co-authors, six years after Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture.

The topics discussed in the book are examined from an entirely linguistic perspective. The authors of the book are more concerned with the temporary meaning and messages conveyed by architectural form than with its timeless, enduring qualities. Although the book takes its name from Las Vegas, the issues it addresses remain current for countries where the Modernist architectural movement gained traction or is still being applied.

Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi state in the book's preface:

"As critics of Modern architecture, it is appropriate here to acknowledge our profound admiration for its founders, who were sensitive to their own times and proclaimed a relevant revolution. Our argument concerns the inappropriate and distorted extension of this old revolution..."

In the introduction to the book, Uğur Tanyeli, who penned a presentation titled "Postmodern Discourse and Learning from Las Vegas," states:

"The great designer architects of the 20th century face the necessity of presenting not only architectural but also written documents to the professional public. This situation can also be described as a culmination, five hundred years later, of a process that began with Alberti, reaching a peak befitting the age of mass production. At this pinnacle, two architects, Le Corbusier and Robert Venturi, distinguish themselves by writing fundamental texts that can be used to understand their respective eras and the architecture of those times. These two figures have produced texts of vital importance for, respectively, the Modern and the Postmodern movements... Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form deserves special attention as one of the texts that best exemplifies the great change architecture theory or ideology has undergone in recent years."

WHO IS ROBERT VENTURI?

Robert Venturi, director of the architecture firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, has engaged in teaching and theoretical work alongside his extensive and significant practical output. In addition to Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, his works include Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (with Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour) and A View from the Campidoglio: Selected Essays, 1953-1984.