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Most critics usually regard consistency in architecture an important aspect of the design.

However in the Vanna Venturi House Robert Venturi took the road less travelled and tested

complexity and contradiction in architecture, going against the norm. Located in hestnut

Hill, !ennsylvania on a "at site isolated by surrounding trees, Venturi designed and built the

house for his mother between #$%& and #$%'. (n testing his beliefts on complexity and

contradition )for which he also wrote the book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture) ,

Venturi went through six fully worked*out versions of the house which slowly became known as

the +rst example of !ostmodern architecture.

More on the Vanna Venturi House after the break.

pproaching the Vanna Venturi house, one can detect the symbolic imagery of shelter through

its exterior with its wide symmetrical gable like a classical pediment, which in this case is

split, and the chimney poking out in an exaggerated manner from the back. -he main entrance

is in the center, creating a sense of symmetry that both is and is not there due to the

placement of the windows. -hese windows are located based on function in the interior. or

instance, there is a Modernist ribbon window for the kitchen and s/uare windows serving the

bedroom and bathroom on the other side of the front facade.

-he interior is centered around the +replace, the hearth of the home, but still Venturi0s design

is a 1generic2 house with unusual twists. -he plan contains only +ve functional rooms, and on

the outside it relates to public scale, seeming much larger than it actually is. -he 1generic2

+replace is actually placed next to a stair that competes with the +replace to be the core of the

house. -he +replace is void, the stair is solid and both vertical elements contort in shape to

make room for the other.

3pon entering there is the main living space. lso located on the +rst "oor due to a re/uest

from Venturi0s mother are the kitchen and the bedroom. -he second "oor contains another

bedroom, storage space, and a terrace. 1nowhere stair2 on the second "oor also integrates

itself into the core space. (t rises up at an awkward angle, and its function on one level is

completely useless due to its steep slope, while on the other level it serves as a ladder to clean

the high window on the second level.

3pon entering there is the main living space. lso located on the +rst "oor due to a re/uest

from Venturi0s mother are the kitchen and the bedroom. -he second "oor contains another

bedroom, storage space, and a terrace. 1nowhere stair2 on the second "oor also integrates

itself into the core space. (t rises up at an awkward angle, and its function on one level is

completely useless due to its steep slope, while on the other level it serves as a ladder to clean

the high window on the second level.(n order to create more contradiction and complexity, Venturi experimented with scale. (nsidethe house certain elements are 1too big,2 such as the si4e of the +replace and the height of themantel compared to the si4e of the room. 5oors are wide and low in height, especially incontrast to the grandness of the entrance space. (n the rear elevation of the house is anoversi4ed lunette window, which follows the main elements of the exterior that areexaggerated in si4e. Venturi also minimi4ed circulation space in the design of the house, sothat it consisted of large distinct rooms with minimum subdivisions between them.

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