Love in Las Vegas: 99% Invisible Illuminates Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s Postmodern Romance

Which building is better, the duck or the ornamented shed? More importantly, what kind of architecture does the average American prefer? In their landmark 1972 publication Learning From Las Vegas, Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi probed these questions by turning their back on paternalistic modernism in favor of the glowing, overtly kitsch, and symbolic Mecca of the Las Vegas strip. From a chance encounter during a meeting in the Library of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania and shared trips to the strip to critically shaping a new generation of architects, discover the hidden details of the romance and city that defined postmodernism in this latest episode from 99% Invisible. 

Following a clandestine interaction following a meeting to discuss the destruction of the 1890 Library of Fine Arts at the University of Pensilvania—where Scott Brown and Venturi taught—the pair discovered their shared interest in the historic and ornamental. Both were fond of decorative architecture and soon began sharing research and even teaching alongside one another. After relocating from the University of Pennsylvania to Berkley, Scott Brown stumbled upon the neon sea of the Las Vegas strip. “‘Is this love or is this hate?” Scott Brown remembers asking herself. “Las Vegas was a place people voted for with their feet…hey went there in droves.” In 1966, she invited Venturi for a visit.

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