About this episode
In the first episode of A is for Architecture’s third series, the effervescent Denise Scott Brown talks about her journey to and through architecture, as a designer, writer, planner, urbanist, theorist and teacher. It is a wonderful, remarkable story, told with great eloquence and elegance, and one which deserves continued attention.
Denise’s work with her practice Venturi Scott Brown has inspired a great many people, with buildings including Franklin Court, Philadelphia (1976), the Children's Museum, Houston, Texas (1992), the Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London (1991), the Seattle Art Museum (1991) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego (1996). Her and Robert Venturi’s written work has been hugely impactful too, and includes the totemic Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form, (1972, with Robert Venturi and Steven Izenour), Architecture as Signs and Systems: for a Mannerist Time (2004, with Robert Venturi), the significant essay Room at the top? Sexism and the Star System in Architecture (1989), and Studio, Architecture’s offering to academe (2016). Threaded through it all is a genuine belief in the value of ordinary and everyday ways of being and doing the built environment.
There is a huge amount of material online, in libraries (in real books!), in magazines and journals, and to listen to about or featuring Denise. Go find a book, and think about it all. As she said, ‘People have learnt from Las Vegas, but they haven’t learnt the half of it yet’.
It was an extraordinary sensation speaking with Denise, like swimming in very deep waters.
Available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.
Thanks for listening.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Music credits: Bruno Gillick
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Apple: podcasts.apple.com
Spotify: open.spotify.com
Google: podcasts.google.com
Amazon: music.amazon.co.uk
Get every episode summarized
Each time A is for Architecture Podcast publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from A is for Architecture Podcast
Tim Altenhof: Atmospheres and architecture.
A is for Architecture Podcast
Ed Wall: Architecture & war.
A is for Architecture Podcast
Andreas Lechner: Forms and typologies.
A is for Architecture Podcast
Lee Ivett: Blueprint for a new architecture.
A is for Architecture Podcast