Customer Reviews

Learning From La Jolla: Robert Venturi Remakes a Museum in the Precinct of Irving Gill

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This is an outstanding book for anyone interested in the work of two great architects - Robert Venturi and Irving Gill. The combination of their work at the museum in La Jolla is masterful, and this book gives a fascinating look into the museum's history and Venturi's thought processes as he sought to restore the historic "Scripps House" while expanding and modernizing the Museum of Contemporary Art. A great find - makes me want to visit La Jolla and see it for myself!

Buy this book even if you've never been to the La Jolla museum it describes. If you've been to the museum, it's worth buying to give you pause to reflect on what you've seen. This book offers both the history and theory behind Venturi's reshaping of a wonderful museum in an attractive location. Those of us who remember the museum in the old days have got to be impressed with what Venturi has done. Although this text is all too brief, it provides the illumination needed to appreciate more fully this California classic.

This is a very handsome book - of great interest for architectural buffs or historians. It pairs two great architects - Robert Venturi and Irving Gill - in a unique, engaging, and informative way. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (in La Jolla, California)is one of the finest small museums in the country, well worth a visit to see outstanding architecture as well as cutting-edge contemporary art.