AR321

(2)الواجب

Guild house Robert venturi

عمر احمد جميلة : عمل الطالب

احمد فالتة /فاروق مفتي المهندس /الدكتور

AR321 Guild house

Front facade

This apartment building for low-income elderly housing was one of

the first important works by Robert Venturi and his partner then, John

Rauch. (In 1967 his wife Denise Scott Brown joined the firm, since

called Venturi Scott Brown.) Like an ordinary structure, this front

respects the street line of the city's grid, although the building is

recessed on both sides. Like an ordinary structure in this

neighborhood, it has a rather cheap-looking facade of red brick. Many

of the windows are conventional double-hung metal windows. Thus,

in many ways this building is ordinary--some say even ugly. In

addition, it is contextual, relating to the architecture of the

neighborhood.

Six-story entrance facade and stepped back sides

The entrance has a white brick "base" and the fenestration terminates

in an arched window--illuminating the common room on this top floor

(not relegated to the basement!). Missing is the original gold anodized

aluminum television antenna on the roof above the central bay, which

presumably referred to the primary preoccupation of the elderly

residents. The stepped-back sides allow for more windows with sunny

exposures.

Uncommon details

Like the screen facades on some medieval cathedrals, this front deceives as to what lies behind. Note, for example,

the slits in the masonry at the top, revealing that the building is discontinuous there.

Another eccentric detail is the white brick "string course" which is interrupted by the windows, rather than being

placed logically as a horizontal division defining a floor level. These details are decorative paradoxes rather than

logical