Theory Follows Photography: The Evolving Gaze of Denise Scott Brown

Main Article Content

Issue Vol. 6 No. 1 (2023)
Published Jan 30, 2023
Section Articles
Article downloads 476
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7454/in.v6i1.233
Submitted : Jul 5, 2022 | Accepted : Oct 2, 2022

Pablo Meninato

Abstract

Throughout history, architects have communicated their ideas through writing, drawing, model-making, speculation, and built work. Photography, which appeared in architecture books at the beginning of the 20th century, was mostly considered to be ancillary to the written word. A recent exhibition of photographs by Denise Scott Brown at Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia during summer 2021 demonstrates the possibility of another creative and intellectual path for the medium. Photography simultaneously serves as a precedent and catalyst for architectural and urban thinking and theory. This article aims to examine the relationship and continuity between Scott Brown's photographs and the ideas that she conveyed in essays and books. Photography, therefore, becomes the catalyst for writings that integrate disparate topics, such as anthropology, vernaculars, history, and Pop Art, as the iconology of Las Vegas and the changing urban landscape of Philadelphia. Embodying a new creative paradigm, Scott Brown's photography anticipates theory.

Keywords: photography, exhibition, architectural theory, Mannerism, Pop Art

Article Details

How to Cite
Meninato, P. (2023). Theory Follows Photography: The Evolving Gaze of Denise Scott Brown. Interiority, 6(1), 5–20. https://doi.org/10.7454/in.v6i1.233
Author Biography

Pablo Meninato, Temple University, USA

Pablo Meninato is an architect, theorist, historian, and Associate Professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is the author of the book Unexpected Affinities: The History of Type in the Architectural Project (Routledge, 2018) and co-editor of Informality and the City: Theories, Actions, and Interventions (Springer, 2022).

References

Benjamin, W. (1968). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In H. Arendt (Ed.), Illuminations (pp. 217–251). Schocken Books. (Original work published 1935)

Colomina, B. (2020). Learning from learning. In Von Moos, S. & Stierli, M. (Eds.), Eyes that saw: Architecture after Las Vegas (pp. 213–230). Scheidegger and Spiess.

Le Corbusier. (1987). Journey to the East. MIT Press.

Meninato, P. (2018). Unexpected affinities: The history of type in the architectural project. Taylor & Francis.

Merrill, M. (2021). Louis Kahn: The importance of a drawing. Lars Müller Publishers.

Schildt, G. (1978). Sketches/Alvar Aalto. MIT Press.

Scott Brown, D. (2000). Learning from pop. In M. Hays (Ed.), Architecture theory since 1968 (pp. 62–66). MIT Press. (Reprinted from "Learning from pop," 1971, Casabella, Dec., 359–360)

Scott Brown, D., & Weaver, T. (2019). From Soane to the strip: Soane Medal Lecture 2018. Sir John Soane's Museum.

Tenenbaum, J. (2020, February 4). Saving South Streetthrough the lens of Denise Scott Brown. Hidden City. https://hiddencityphila.org/2020/02/saving-south-street-through-the-lens-of-denise-scott-brown/

Venturi, R., & Scott Brown, D. (1984). A view from the Campidoglio: Selected essays, 1953–1984. Harper & Row.

Venturi, R., & Scott Brown, D. (2004). Architecture as signs and systems for a Mannerist time. Belknap Press.

Venturi, R., Scott Brown, D., & Izenour, S. (1972), Learning from Las Vegas:The forgotten symbolism of architectural form. MIT Press.

VSBA. (1984). Times Square Plaza Design [Project description]. Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc.