Famed Philadelphia Architect Robert Venturi, 87, Announces Retirement
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There's a change in Philadelphia architecture.
It's not in the design of a building or a campus master plan, but the retirement of 87-year-old Robert Venturi.
The firm Venturi Scott Brown, formed with his wife and partner Denise Scott Brown, boasts dozens of major projects -- from the Allentown Art Museum to Yale University.
Brigitte Knowles, architecture professor at Temple University, says Venturi (right) expanded the boundaries of the field.
"(The) time he emerged was late '60s, early '70s, out of what we traditionally thought of architecture -- you know, big giant boxes, cubicles, fairly cold, austere kind of buildings, and he stepped out of that box and really preached a new kind of architecture."
Professor Knowles says a major Venturi-designed structure in Philadelphia is the Guild House on Spring Garden Street, near 7th (top phot0).
