Robert Venturi's Learning From Las Vegas

1012 Words3 Pages

As stated by Robert Venturi in Learning from Las Vegas (LFLV) : “The sign is more important than the architecture”(Relearning from LV). This reference is crucial in the unraveling of a new type of communication, one that uses the city itself as a medium. The authors of Learning from Las Vegas had chosen to specifically document the Las Vegas Strip for being the archetypal display of the auto-mobilized city, not the prototype of one, but the phenomenon, which was about to set the standard for the future. This phenomenon was significant to document, while surprisingly enough, it was sparked by “proles”(destruction of spectacle), or in other words, figures who were not linked to the field of architecture, but who have defined design decisions …show more content…

The new business model which developed into the expected norm, is credited to bootlegger Tony Cornero, who was approaching profitability in a novel fashion. “Instead of a small casino for high rollers, Cornero built a big casino for low rollers.” (strip lv and the arc dream) This was at a time when America’s middle class was growing, meaning that a bigger flow of people had money to spend, and found Las Vegas as their awaited haven. Not hiring an architect, Cornero relied on engineers to lay out the designs of the hotels and casinos with maximum efficiency, while still making the consumers “feel like a million bucks for only half the price of rooms at other resorts”. All in all, his business model resonated strongly with the formulation of the Strip’s future, which was to “take something that could potentially appeal to the masses, then scale it up, preferably out of …show more content…

The jumbo jet sized Stardust sign, only affected the surface of the building, and was visible from 3 miles away by additionally being singled out at night by 7,100 feet of neon tubing and 11,000 light bulbs. The Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) were in the business of designing movie posters but were nevertheless asked to conceive the iconic face the auto-mobilized nature of the Strip. It was thus Kermit Wayne’s 216 foot long and 37 foot high canvas for The Stardust that was a replacement to the “fancy landscaping, room views, and circular drive”,rendering architect obsolete in the “equation”. Wayne continued to be the “star”designer of the signs, proving with The Stardust “that instead of spending money on sophisticated architecture… all you needed was the right

More about Robert Venturi's Learning From Las Vegas

Open Document