Robert Venturi Print Collection

Ever since reading Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown's seminal text Learning from Las Vegas as an undergraduate architecture student, I've developed a deep love of the dynamism of streetscapes and, of course, the decorated shed, epitomized by Long Island's Big Duck. One of the highlights of attending Las Vegas Market late January was visiting the special exhibitions installed for the show. Among them were selections from the Robert Venturi Print Collection, on loan from the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Here are a few of my favorites.

Venturi's sketch of the Vanna Venturi House in Philadelphia, which he designed for his mother and completed in 1962.

In this image, Venturi sketches McKim, Mead, and White's 1887 Low House in Bristol, Rhode Island, a likely inspiration...

My favorite sketch of all was this, showing Venturi's depiction of the Big Duck on Long Island, a building type he...

Here, the sign as the descriptor—though the diner has developed its own building typology.

In a similar vein as the "Typical American Highway Scene," here, Venturi portrays his idea of the "Typical House in Los...

In another ode to architecture masters of yore, Venturi sketches Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, completed in 1931 and a...