Las Vegas in the Rearview Mirror brings to bear an impressive array of sources, a profound knowledge of architectural history and urbanism, as well as numerous contextual disciplines, to dissect Learning from Las Vegas as a research seminar, a published artifact, a sophisticated analytical program, an ideological statement, and the epicenter of a debate about the form of the American city.
Artillery Magazine Martino Stierli examines Learning from Las Vegas as an urbanist analysis, within the artistic and architectural context of 1960s-70s pop culture, high and low art, and urban forms.
Book News When published in 1972, Learning from Las Vegas (CH, Mar'73) met a storm of protest because it seemed to sanctify so much that long had been cast as detritus, including parking lots and enormous, garish signs. But for the authors (architect Robert Venturi; his wife, planner Denise Scott Brown; and their associate, Steven Izenour), the Strip in Las Vegas represented the quintessential expression of the contemporary American city
an archetype that should afford a basis for developing designs that were meaningful to the public. In the past 40-plus years, the book
arguably among the most important 20th-century publications on urbanism
has had an enduring impact on the way many people think about and shape the urban environment at home and abroad. Stierli (Univ. of Zurich, Switzerland) here provides a meticulous assessment of the context in which that book was written. His new book is rich with insights about Venturi and Scott Brown, underscoring the latter's essential role in the study. But Stierli's most important contribution is providing a fresh examination of planning, design, and critical thinking about the built environment in the US and Europe during the third quarter of the 20th century for specialists concerned with that subject. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-level undergraduates and above.
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