Denise Scott Brown. in Other Eyes - (Bauwelt Fundamente) by Frida Grahn (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

50 years Learning from Las Vegas

From
the bustle of Johannesburg to the neon of Las Vegas, Denise Scott
Brown's advocacy for "messy vitality" has transformed the way we look at
the urban landscape. Unconventional, eloquent, and with a profound
sociopolitical message, Scott Brown is one of our era's most influential
thinkers on architecture and urbanism.

The anthology Denise Scott Brown. In Other Eyes - marking the 50th anniversary of the seminal treatise Learning from Las Vegas
- paints a portrait of Scott Brown as seen through the eyes of leading
architectural historians and practitioners. It features new scholarship
on　her education on three continents, her multidisciplinary teaching,
and her use of urban patterns and forces as tools for architectural
design - a practice documented in a new comment by Scott Brown, noting
that sometimes "1+1>2."

• With contributions by Mary
  McLeod, Joan Ockman, Sylvia Lavin, Stanislaus von Moos, Jacques Herzog,
  Robin Middleton, and Denise Scott Brown, among others
• A comprehensive portrait of one of contemporary architecture's most significant personalities

Review Quotes

"Denise Scott Brown In Other Eyes: Portraits of an Architect
is a welcome and necessary publication. Its overview of the ideas and
career of Denise Scott Brown establishes the rich foundations of her work
in education, urban planning, and architecture, as informed by her
attentions to the city as it is lived in, used, and experienced.""However, this book demonstrates through a series of portraits of Scott
Brown, the specific character, originality, and relevance of her
contribution from the period of her early development, through her work as
an educator bridging the work of architecture and urban planning, and then
in her practice with Venturi and Rauch, which finally became Venturi Scott
Brown Architects. And it is about time.""The book achieves the promise of its title. It portrays Scott Brown
through the eyes of others, who speak in a chorus of voices. In doing so,
it is varyingly objective and personal and frequently moving, particularly
in the portraits made by those who have worked with her, been taught by
her, or know her." (www.drawingmatter.org)

"Frida Grahn's Denise Scott Brown In Other Eyes is a bold
feat of scholarship that contextualizes Denise Scott Brown's teaching,
writing, design philosophy, and activism with vignettes [...] in a way that
no other book has to date.""Denise Scott Brown In Other Eyes does a good job of setting the
record straight. It reveals a multidimensional woman enmeshed in the New
Left politics of her time who cared deeply for the inner city working
class, and little for what her critics had to say [...]""To fully render her subject, Grahn's kaleidoscopic bricolage oscillates
between the densely theoretical and the deeply personal. But perhaps
Grahn's greatest achievement is showing how truly heroic Scott Brown is,
while resisting the tendency to lionize her." (www.archpaper.com / July 2023)

"The book is, remarkably, the first collection of writings dedicated
solely to Scott Brown, and as such it marks a new and long overdue
beginning for scholars--an invitation to give serious consideration to
Scott Brown that one hopes will be taken up widely in the coming years." (Izzy Kornblatt in Architectural Record)


"Through her writing, teaching, and designs, Scott Brown has touched
generations of architects and urbanists. With this publication, her
story will inspire many more to see beyond their initial perceptions and
appreciate everyday design as a testament to popular culture." www.madamearchitect.org (Kate Mazade / March 6, 2023)

About the Author

Frida Grahn, Università della Svizzera italiana, Mendrisio