Out of the Ordinary: Architecture, Urbanism, Design - Hardcover

David Brownlee is professor of the history of art at the University of Pennsylvania. David De Long is professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Kathryn B. Hiesinger is curator of European decorative arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This is the catalog for an exhibition originating at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and traveling to the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, CA, and the Heinz Architectural Center in Pittsburgh. Brownlee (art history, Univ. of Pennsylvania), David De Long (architecture, Univ. of Pennsylvania), and Kathryn B. Hiesinger (curator of European decorative arts, Philadelphia Museum of Arts) discuss the the accomplishments of Venturi, Scott Brown, & Associates (originally Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown), as well as relevant decorative arts, along with drawings and color plates. Two of the most valuable sections are the chronology and the project list, which includes 400 projects designed by "Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and their associates" (sorry, Rauch) between 1957 and 2000. Unfortunately, as is typical of many exhibition catalogs, the text is too big and the pictures are too small. In addition, the book is extravagant in tone, claiming, for instance, that the Trubek and Wislocki Houses are "two of the most distinctive buildings of the twentieth century." However, because it documents a major architectural firm, this book must be recommended for all architectural collections. Two books by Stanislaus Von Moos Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown: Buildings and Projects (o.p.) and Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates: Buildings and Projects, 1986-1998 (LJ 2/15/00) provide better pictures and a less indulgent text. Jay Schafer, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.