xity and contradiction instead of the less is more attitude. Venturi tried to create a visual tension by creating both form and meaning in his designs3. He felt that his approach to design was more in tune with the complexity of the modern experience or the sterile types of environments that the Modernist architects were creating. Venturi was more concerned with the issues of form and their meaning rather than the sociology of architecture.Venturi believed that the planning for urban America had ruined the vitality of the street life, by over simplifying it. He felt like even in nature there was complexity and contradiction and that design should reflect this.The Venturi home is simple in image, complex in plan and rich in its contrast to the functional architecture of the time. Venturi had a both-and attitude rather than a either-or attitude. He strived to be innovating, inconsistent and ambiguous rather than direct, clear and articulated. Venturis style was not just a reaction to orthodox Modernism and its banality, as he saw it. He identifies the desire for a complex architecture as being common in many aspects of life and prominent in the work of more contemporary architects such as Le Corbusier and Aalto4.Alvar Aalto also believed that a building should exists for its own structural sake. He too set out to purge designers from the severe restrictions of Modern architects. Aaltos aim in designing his homes was to counteract the ahuman attitude of much of the Modern architects. He felt that a building couldnt be emotionally satisfying unless it responded organically to human needs.The Villa Mairea, built in 1938-41, located in Noormarkku, Finland is a prime example of Aaltos beliefs. This home has a L-shape plan. Aalto designed many of his homes this way because he felt this created a semi-private section and a more public section. Its primary spaces, the dining and living rooms, border a sheltered garden court, set within a roughly ...
