Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture

First published in 1966, this remarkable book has become an essential document in architectural literature. As Venturi’s “gentle manifesto for a nonstraightforward architecture” the book expresses in the most compelling and original terms the postmodern rebellion against the purism of modernism. Three hundred fifty architectural photographs serve as historical comparisons and illuminate the author’s ideas on creating and experiencing architecture.

Since Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture first appeared in 1966, it has been published in sixteen languages (including a samizdat edition in Czechoslovakian). In 1996, this book received the Classic Book Award in the AIA’s Seventh Annual International Architecture Book Awards. 350 black-and-white illustrations.