Robert Venturi designed his Mother's House around the same time he was writing his book "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture." He used this house as an example for his argument. His basic premisis was to take elements previously popular in architecture, especially classical and modern architecture and then he played around with the ideas. For instance, the most important elements in the house - the chimney, fireplace and stairs compete for the central location. The chimney and fireplace are distorted to allow room for the stairs, which become narrower at the top to allow for the chimney and fireplace. This relationship is carried through all of the floors in the house. He also plays around with the idea of stairs by having a staircase that does not go anywhere, which basically gives the stairs a new identity.
He plays around with classical architecture by placing his gabled roof on the long length of the house creating a large pediment that sits on the long length of the house as opposed to the short side. He also has arched windows and mouldings which reflect windows in classical architceture although they are set back away from the main facade. The arch moulding also reflects the interior arch ceiling structure, but instead of being an actual part of the structure like it would be in modern architecture, the moulding is just symbolic.
He also plays around with the symmetry and size of the building. He begins with very symmetrical walls and a central entrance such as can be seen in a Palladian Villa, but then he angles the main walls and places a solid wall at the entrance, forcing visitors to enter through the side angled away from the main line of symmetry. The diagonals mean that the circulation through the house is no longer direct. The house is quite small but he contradicts this by placing mouldings, that were no longer popular at that time, at a higher height than usual causing the space to be perceived as being larger.
The house also sits solidly on the site and there is no vegetation near the house, giving the impression that this little house is actually a monumental building, especially because it sits right in the middle of the site with the large pediment facing the visitor. It is also tightly enclosed, yet it still has areas cut out of the sides like negative spaces, which are not quite open to the outside, but implies open space.
He also played with the idea of a window, by framing each window. At the time windows were just holes in the wall, but Robert Venturi framed each window and added detailing on the window, which is now a very popular style. So essentially, Venturi was playing around with what architecture is.
Through modelling techniques, parti diagrams and poche, I reflected on these ideas of Robert Venturi's in his design of the complexities and contradictions in Mother's House.
He plays around with classical architecture by placing his gabled roof on the long length of the house creating a large pediment that sits on the long length of the house as opposed to the short side. He also has arched windows and mouldings which reflect windows in classical architceture although they are set back away from the main facade. The arch moulding also reflects the interior arch ceiling structure, but instead of being an actual part of the structure like it would be in modern architecture, the moulding is just symbolic.
He also plays around with the symmetry and size of the building. He begins with very symmetrical walls and a central entrance such as can be seen in a Palladian Villa, but then he angles the main walls and places a solid wall at the entrance, forcing visitors to enter through the side angled away from the main line of symmetry. The diagonals mean that the circulation through the house is no longer direct. The house is quite small but he contradicts this by placing mouldings, that were no longer popular at that time, at a higher height than usual causing the space to be perceived as being larger.
The house also sits solidly on the site and there is no vegetation near the house, giving the impression that this little house is actually a monumental building, especially because it sits right in the middle of the site with the large pediment facing the visitor. It is also tightly enclosed, yet it still has areas cut out of the sides like negative spaces, which are not quite open to the outside, but implies open space.
He also played with the idea of a window, by framing each window. At the time windows were just holes in the wall, but Robert Venturi framed each window and added detailing on the window, which is now a very popular style. So essentially, Venturi was playing around with what architecture is.
Through modelling techniques, parti diagrams and poche, I reflected on these ideas of Robert Venturi's in his design of the complexities and contradictions in Mother's House.
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