<div><p>A controversial critic of the blithely functionalist and symbolically vacuous architecture of corporate modernism during the 1950s, [Robert] Venturi has been considered a counterrevolutionary. He published his “gentle manifesto”,<i>Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture</i> in 1966, described in the introduction by Vincent Scully to be “probably the most important writing on the making of architecture since Le Corbusier's<i>Vers Une Architecture,</i> of 1923.” […] The book demonstrated, through countless examples, an approach to understanding architectural composition and complexity, and the resulting richness and interest. Drawing from both vernacular and high-style sources, Venturi introduced new lessons from the buildings of architects both familiar (Michelangelo, Alvar Aalto) and then forgotten (Frank Furness, Edwin Lutyens). He made a case for &quot;the difficult whole&quot; rather than the diagrammatic forms popular at the time, and included examples—both built and unrealized—of his own work to demonstrate the possible application of the techniques illustrated within. […]</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This new book aims to re-evaluate the Venturian idea of “the difficult whole” as both a looking glass and a possible tool for architecture today. Through a radical re-reading of found material from the Venturi Scott Brown archives, the editors seek to propose a credible alternative to contemporary architectural discourse. Its format combines the ambiguity of interpretation with the factual material, keeping the precision of the argument.</p><p></p><p></p><p>This elusive position is elaborated in essays by Kersten Geers, Enrique Walker, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Andrea Zanderigo, and Jelena Pancevac, complemented by interviews with Kazunari Sakamoto and Alvaro Siza. A selection of around 35 projects by Venturi Scott Brown, and also by Alvaro Siza and James Stirling, define as a visual narrative the argument for the re-evaluation of Venturi’s “difficult whole”. Included are well-known works but also some that were considered less important at the time and thus have not been published in such a detail before. They presented with drawings (plans and sections) and original archive material as well as perspective images and photographs by Bas Princen newly produced for this book.</p><p></p></div><p></p>