Inside and Outside

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the meaning of Robert Venturi's statement that architects now work to bring the interior and exterior closer together. Their goal is to make the exterior reflect the interior, with one way of achieving this melding being the use of flowing space. The paper notes that other means have also been taken to achieve this combination of interior and exterior in buildings.

From the Paper:

"What Robert Venturi writes in his book "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture" is on the one hand intuitive and fits with what many people realize as a matter of course; namely, that the exterior of a building does not necessarily reveal what is on the interior. Venturi notes the effort by architects to bring the interior and exterior closer together when he writes, Contrast between the inside and the outside can be a major manifestation of contradiction in architecture. However, one of the powerful twentieth century orthodoxies has been the necessity for continuity between them: the inside should be expressed on the outside. But this is not really new---only our means have been new. One way of achieving this melding has been the use of flowing space, which "produced an architecture of related horizontal and vertical planes." Other means have also been taken to achieve this combination of interior and exterior in buildings."

More papers on Inside and Outside:

• Analytical Essay # 145368 : "Reciprocity Inside and Outside Iroquois Confederacy"
• Essay # 33487 : "Working Women, Inside and Outside the Home"
• Analytical Essay # 55760 : "Inside Game/Outside Game"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: