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Quotes from Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture — Robert Venturi

1925–2018 United States

← All quotes by Robert Venturi

10 quotes

I am for richness of meaning rather than clarity of meaning; for the implicit function as well as the explicit function.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

The calculated ambiguity of expression is based on the confusion of experience as reflected in the architectural program.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

Nor does complexity deny the valid simplification which is part of the process of analysis, and even a method of achieving complex architecture itself.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

Rationalizations for simplification are still current, however, though subtler than the early arguments.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

I am for messy vitality over obvious unity.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

The essential purpose of the interiors of buildings is to enclose rather than direct space, and to separate the inside from the outside

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

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.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

Main Street is almost alright.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

Orthodox Modern architects have tended to recognize complexity insufficiently or inconsistently. In their attempt to break with tradition and start all over again, they idealized the primitive and elementary at the expense of the diverse and the sophisticated.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

Architecture as the wall between the inside and the outside becomes the spatial record of this resolution and its drama. And by recognizing the difference between the inside and the outside, architecture opens the door once again to an urbanistic point of view.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Venturi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.