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Review
"...a brilliant document of the times...a work which uses history knowledgeably, skillfully, and creatively: a rarity." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
"...professionally informed, competitively astute, and perversely brilliant..." The Yale Review
"...these studies are brilliant...the kind of art history and theory that is rarely produced." The New York Times Ada Louis Huxtable
Book Description
Learning from Las Vegas created a healthy controversy on its appearance in 1972, calling for architects to be more receptive to the tastes and values of "common" people and less immodest in their erections of "heroic," self-aggrandizing monuments.This revision includes the full texts of Part I of the original, on the Las Vegas strip, and Part II, "Ugly and Ordinary Architecture, or the Decorated Shed," a generalization from the findings of the first part on symbolism in architecture and the iconography of urban sprawl. (The final part of the first edition, on the architectural work of the firm Venturi and Rauch, is not included in the revision.) The new paperback edition has a smaller format, fewer pictures, and a considerably lower price than the original. There are an added preface by Scott Brown and a bibliography of writings by the members of Venturi and Rauch and about the firm's work.
Learning from the existing landscape is a way of being revolutionary for an architect. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Illustrations too small,
By
This review is from: Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (Paperback)
First of all, this book is an architectural classic, and is on of those works which must be read for one's self before passing judgement on the content. I find that the content is today more applicable to the suburban condition which pervades the developed world than specifically Las Vegas. I suspect that developer's have learned more from this book than architects.My biggest issue with this book is not with the content, but the execution. The illustrations are far too small, and often placed many pages away from the actual text which references the illustrations. While I understand the publisher is trying to produce a paperback which is affordable, I believe they have taken too many shortcuts, resulting in a book which is difficult to read.
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Architectural Nightmare,
By doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (Paperback)
This is a quite unusual and offbeat treatise on architectural theory, as applied to the world's greatest architectural monstrosity - Las Vegas. This analysis from the early 1970s is obviously outdated because Las Vegas hadn't yet become the monument to megalomania and excess that it is today, but it was already well on its way. The authors analyze Vegas' unique usages of space, lighting, placement, transportation, and building design for the purposes of communication and promotion. Strange chapter titles give a clue to the left-field analysis in store, and the authors have a clear sense of irony, underhandedly implying that Vegas presents the worst in architecture while they appear to be praising its uniqueness. Unfortunately the narrative gets bogged down in dense professor-speak terminology like "Brazilianoid" and "neo-Constructivist megastructures," along with a general overload of obtuse theory. Add to that the poor-quality and under-elaborated illustrations and you have a book that sacrifices insight and readability in favor of pedantic attempts to impress the authors' colleagues. [~doomsdayer520~]
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant study of signage and architecture,
By A Customer
This review is from: Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (Paperback)
Robert Venturi's study of the Las Vegas signage phenomena and it's impact on "architecture" is brilliant in it's scope. While written almost twenty five years ago, this book gains more and more pertinence as we as a society progress further into a "reality" of symbols, reproductions and representations. These words and thoughts are basically essential to the understanding of any city anymore, not just Las Vegas. Where this book misses the mark though is in the execution, as shown in Venturi's work, of these ideas. The projects put forth seem to pale in comparison to the implications the text actually has. These notions of architecture are by far some of the most relevant and important in modern theory today, it is unfortunate that their full potential could not be realized in these projects.... but maybe that is for you and I to do.
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