We have a very special guest on today’s episode of Architectette, Denise Scott Brown.

Denise Scott Brown is an architect; planner & urban designer; and a theorist, writer and educator whose projects, research, and writing have influenced designers and architects since the 1960s. Her writings have changed the practice of architecture as we know it and her built work spans several continents. Some of her notable writings include Learning from Las Vegas, Having Words, and Architecture as Signs and Systems. She was a long-standing principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.

Many of the topics we cover are influenced from the recently published book, Denise Scott Brown in Other Eyes: Portraits of an Architect edited by Frida Grahn.  

I had the pleasure of chatting with Denise for two and a half hours (please remember, Denise is in her 90s!) - so this conversation will be divided into two episodes.

In part 1 we talk about: 

- We start with the iconic theory: Duck vs Decorated Shed. How did Denise come up with the idea? Why a duck? And did she anticipate her theories’ on academia? 

- We next explore Denise’s early teaching days. She shares stories from Penn, UCLA, and Berkeley and we walk about late-night crits and ‘Functions of a Table’. 

- We dive into the origin story of Learning from Las Vegas and then hear some stories you might not read in your history books: how Denise met Robert Venturi and started working with him and I also ask where she got her bold, graphic wedding dress (see an image in Grahn's book!)

- Next, we cover the political and social complexities of growing up as a Jewish immigrant in Africa and draw parallels to her teaching during the free speech movement and more recent eras of social reform.

- Denise expresses the importance of creativity in childhood and she shares her earliest memory- from age two!

- If you’re listening closely, you’ll also hear a few shoutouts to the Drexel Community- Paul Hirshorn and John Fry and more unexpectedly, Denise draws a few parallels to Trevor Noah. 

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed interviewing Denise. (Denise, Emma, and Nyma - THANK YOU!)

Please join us for next week’s Part 2 episode where we will discuss Sexism and the Star System, Philadelphia’s South Street, the Provincial Capitol Building in Toulouse, and more!

Links:

Studio Architecture's Gift to Academe

Denise Scott Brown in Other Eyes: Portraits of an Architect

Venturi Scott Brown Website

Learning from Las Vegas (article summary)

Stop Current Sainsbury Wing Renovation

Photo: Denise Scott Brown, 2023, photograph by Nyamsuren Erdenebayar 

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