The Birthplace of a Nation

Over Independence Day weekend this year, Kim and I went to Philadelphia with our Korean friend Sujeong. Sujeong is a college student who came to the United States back in April as an intern at Kim's school. Since Kim and I love Philadelphia (and wish we had more excuses to go there already), we thought it would be fun for the three of us to go together. What a better way for Sujeong to get a feel for US history than visiting Philadelphia on Independence Day!?

We had a lot of fun over the weekend and we did many of the touristy things you are supposed to do when you visit Philadelphia: we ate cheesesteak, went to the Franklin Institute, took a trolly tour of Center City's murals, ate at a Stephen Starr restaurant (Brunch at the Continental...yumm!), saw the Liberty Bell, toured Independence Hall, and visited the Constitution Center.

During one of our walks through Old City, we stopped at one of my favorite monuments: Franklin Court. The monument, which sits off of Market Street on the former site of Benjamin Franklin's house and print-shop, was designed in 1976 by Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi (Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates). It commemorates the original structures, which were demolished in the early 1800s, by constructing a "ghosted" outline version of each structure out of square steel tubes, while the plan of the main house's first floor is reconstructed in the paving pattern and concrete vitrines look down onto the original foundations. I think I enjoy the Franklin Court monument so much because it is simple yet descriptive, and it evokes a real sense of history without being too literal or even anachronistic.

I guess I have always had a little bit of a thing for Venturi's work, anyway--mostly because it is fun! I like the idea of architecture that does not take it self too seriously--architecture that is complex and contradictory. My interest in his work is somewhat of a complex contradiction in itself! His work is ugly and ordinary. His buildings are mostly just decorated sheds. He uses brick like wallpaper. He uses boring materials. His color schemes are sometimes questionable. He mixes his metaphors. He is not a Modernist. But he is a talented architect with a particular vision of architecture and specific ideas about what architecture should be and how it should communicate. His designs fulfill this vision, and for that I respect him.

On a side note, I actually applied for a job with VSBA back in 2002 when Kim and I were living in Philadelphia just after we got married. Though it did not work out for me to work there for the summer before we moved to New Haven, I did meet Bob Venturi, very briefly, in the back stair of his Manayunk studio!