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In engineering it is the bridge that vividly expresses the play of exaggeratedly pure order against circumstantial inconsistencies. The direct, geometric order of the upper structure, derived from the sole, simple function of conveying vehicles on an even span, strongly contrasts with the exceptional accommodation of the structural order below, which through distortion--the expedient device of elongated or shortened piers--accommodates the bridge to the uneven terrain of the ravine.
Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), p. 47-8.

The nineteenth century statue of the Virgin within the window of the east wall of the Chapel at Ronchamp is a vestige from the former church which stood on the spot. Besides its symbolic value, it represents a banal object of sculpture vividly enhanced by its new setting.
Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), p. 50.

The facades of two eighteenth century Neapolitan villas express two kinds, or two manifestations, of contradiction. In the Villa Pignatelli the mouldings, which dip, become string courses and window heads at once. In the Villa Palomba the windows, which disregard the bay system and puncture the exterior panels, are positioned by interior needs. The mouldings in the first villa adapt easily to their contradictory functions. The windows of the second villa clash violently with the panel configurations and pilaster rhythm: the inside order and the outside order are in an uncompromisingly contradictory relation.
In the first facade contradiction is adapted by accommodating and compromising its elements; in the second facade contradiction is juxtaposed by using contrasting superimposed or adjacent elements.
Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), p. 53.

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