#95 The Venetian Façade: A Conversation with Michael Dennis

Saturday, January 25th Live on Zoom

7pm Italy, 10am Los Angeles, 11am Phoenix, 1pm New York

There are no books that focus on the unique artistic characteristics of the Venetian facade and its potential relevance to contemporary architectural and urban issues, as this book intends. The Venetian Palace is to the art of the facade as the French Hôtel is to the art of the plan—the quintessential level of architectural achievement. Unique in the history of architecture, and a product of an equally unique circumstance, the Venetian facade is almost modern in its planar abstraction and lack of structural expression. "The Venetian Facade" is about architecture; it is not about history, it is not about theory, it is not about structure and technology, and, most definitely, it is not about the plan. All of these topics are well-covered elsewhere. This book is about the facade. It explores the art and typology of the Venetian facade, not only as a high point of architectural literacy and achievement, but as a potentially useful contemporary stimulant.

Michael Dennis is a principal of Michael Dennis & Associates in Boston, and Professor of Architecture Emeritus at MIT, where he taught Urban Design and Theory. He was the 1986 Thomas Jefferson Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia, the 1988 Eero Saarinen Professor of Architecture at Yale University, and the 2006 Charles Moore Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan. He has lectured widely and is the author of Court and Garden: From the French Hôtel to the City of Modern Architecture (1986),Architecture and the City: Selected Essays (2020), Temples & Towns: The Form, Elements, and Principles of Planned Towns (2022), andThe Venetian Facade (2024). Forthcoming: American Architects and Urbanism: Nation and City Building Before the Apocalypse. In 2011, he was awarded the CNU Athena Medal for his contributions to urbanism.

To RSVP: Paola50122@gmail.com

Minimum suggested donation: $28

This talk is free for Friends of Paola's Studiolo!

Look forward to seeing you on Zoom!