Robert Venturi
An American architect and theorist, he was a leading figure in the postmodern movement, known for his book 'Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture' and the phrase 'less is a bore'.
Quotes by Robert Venturi
I like complexity and contradiction in architecture.
Less is a bore.
More is not less.
I am for messy vitality over obvious unity.
Architecture is not an easy game.
Main Street is almost all right.
Learning from the existing landscape is a way of being revolutionary for an architect. Not the obvious way, which is to tear down Paris and start again, but another, more difficult way, which is to learn from the existing landscape.
The duck is the special building that is a symbol; the decorated shed is the conventional shelter that applies symbols.
Ugly and ordinary architecture is what we need.
The architect's role is to interpret and articulate the existing rather than to invent the new.
The architect must be a generalist, not a specialist.
Context is everything.
We are for richness of meaning rather than clarity of meaning.
I like elements that 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, redundant rather than simple, vestigial as well as innovating, inconsistent and equivocal rather than direct and clear. I am for messy vitality over obvious unity.
The valid architectural experience is a complex one, involving many levels of meaning and a variety of elements in a whole.
The obligation of the architect is to the whole, to the context, to the existing fabric.
Architecture is a difficult art, and it's not for sissies.
We reject the heroic and the monumental.
The architect's job is to make the ordinary extraordinary.
Architecture is not just about space, it's about communication.