American postmodernist and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Robert Venturi died on Tuesday, September 18 at his home in Philadelphia following a short illness. He was 93.
Venturi’s distinguished career began as a student at Princeton University and the American Academy in Rome, where he studied as a Rome Prize Fellow. After his return to the States, Venturi joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture as a lecturer of architectural theory. An educator at elite institutions throughout his life, Venturi’s time at the university led him to meet his future wife and professional collaborator Denise Scott Brown. The two married in 1967, at which point Scott Brown joined Venturi’s firm—run alongside John Rauch at the time—and became a partner in 1969. The pair also penned the postmodernist text “Learning from Las Vegas” in 1972. Venturi and Scott Brown’s firm formally changed its name to Venturi, Scott Brown, and Associates (VSBA) in 1989.
The architect’s prowess as an architectural pedagogue and postmodernist leader was reflected in his 1966 book “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture.” The modernist concepts evident in the book manifested clearly in Venturi’s work, especially his arguable magnum opus—the Vanna Venturi House in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania.
Robert Venturi with Denise Scott Brown
Following his retirement in 2012, Venturi, who was named the winner of the 1991 Pritzker Architecture Prize, was confirmed as a dual recipient of the 2016 AIA Gold Medal alongside Scott Brown.
Venturi is survived by Scott Brown and his son Jim Venturi.
