OUT OF THE ORDINARY: THE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN OF ROBERT VENTURI, DENISE SCOTT BROWN AND ASSOCIATES.By David Brownlee, David De Long, Kathryn Hiesinger and others. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Museum of Art, established in 1875, chartered in 1876. When the city of Philadelphia planned to erect a building to house the Centennial Exposition of 1876, provision was made to keep the building permanently occupied; the Pennsylvania Museum and School in association with Yale University Press. 2001. [pound]45 According to the breathless narrative of this tasteless hagiography hagiography Literature describing the lives of the saints. Christian hagiography includes stories of saintly monks, bishops, princes, and virgins, with accounts of their martyrdom and of the miracles connected with their relics, tombs, icons, or statues. , a glorified glo·ri·fy tr.v. glo·ri·fied, glo·ri·fy·ing, glo·ri·fies 1. To give glory, honor, or high praise to; exalt. 2. exhibition catalogue, the house built by Venturi venturi a tube with a decrease in the inside diameter that is used to increase the flow velocity of the fluid and thereby cause a pressure drop; used to measure the flow velocity (a venturimeter) or to draw another fluid into the stream. for his mother and himself is 'the most significant house of the second half of the twentieth century'. But then everything of his is wonderful here, 'so rich in resonance', 'profoundly original', exhibiting 'wit, grace, intelligence, love of ornament' and 'sensitivity to context'. Apparently, at the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, 'one of the great buildings of the last half of the twentieth century', the Venturis were concerned with 'aspects of meaningful symbol and enlivening en·liv·en tr.v. en·liv·ened, en·liv·en·ing, en·liv·ens To make lively or spirited; animate. en·liv  en·er n. detail'. Where are Pugin and Ruskin when you need them, to describe the hideous back elevations of this revolting building, the pretentious rubbish of a grand staircase going nowhere, the creeping tawdry gift shop, the cheap suspended ceilings, the vile laser-cut ironwork, the derisory incomprehensible 'jokes' of the fading pilasters, and the silly plans with their mutilated mu·ti·late tr.v. mu·ti·lat·ed, mu·ti·lat·ing, mu·ti·lates 1. To deprive of a limb or an essential part; cripple. 2. To disfigure by damaging irreparably: mutilate a statue. 'classical' doorcases, which were no doubt amusing for anyone in America who had never seen at first hand a third-rate building by Sir Herbert Baker. If only the old National Gallery itself, recognized as a failure from the day it was built, had been demolished and the whole thing conveyed to Mr Ahrends for replacement; or perhaps to the architect, whoever he was, of the Orange Street extension at the back of it, once a fine piece of work but no doubt the subject of much jeering in the architectural salons of Philadelphia. There's nothing in this book but games with graphics. |
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