Mannerism and meaning in Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture

摘要

'This is not an easy book', opens Vincent Scully's introduction to Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966). Nonetheless, the object, as well as the aim, of Complexity and Contradiction seems straightforward enough: a theory of design providing an alternative to 'orthodox modernism'. Venturi is also quite explicit about his method and his preferences. Still, Scully is right. Complexity and Contradiction amasses a body of historical exempla that becomes more impressive with each perusal of the book, and classes it with virtuosic flair under an array of headings (such as 'Contradiction Juxtaposed') that seem at once self-explanatory and oracular. Many authors and artists are referenced, each time adding a new layer to the already dense exposition. As Scully observes, '[the] whole [of Complexity and Contradiction] is ... hard to see, hard to write about .. ..' This essay is an attempt to read and interpret Complexity and Contradiction and, to a limited extent, Learning from Las Vegas, by examining the role of mannerism and baroque in the formationrnof Venturi's design theory.