Specifically, it is what architects robert venturi and denise scott brown would call a “duck” as opposed to a “decorated shed.” randy’s donuts shop and sign (a “decorated shed”) by extra medium (cc by 2.0). Robert venturi, denise scott brown, and steven izenour’s classic, learning from las vegas, famously pitted the decorated shed—the conventional structure with applied symbols—against the duck—the building that is itself a symbol.in the years following the book’s 1972 publication, the decorated sheds vanquished the ducks, as postmodernism displaced heroic modernism as the prevailing. Later in the book, venturi introduces a dichotomy that was new to me, the duck and the decorated shed, to compare and contrast the modern architects against the more conventional architects. 1. where the architectural systems of space, structure, and program are submerged and distorted by an overall symbolic form..
This venturi basically concludes that all architecture is either a “duck” or a “decorated shed”. according to venturi, most modern architecture are basically unadmitted ducks, what he calls "old words with new meanings".. Kuudesign.com - the duck or the decorated shed created for philosophy of . decorated shed..the ironic thing about the idea for the "duck and the decorated shed," is the fact that the group of robert venturi, denise scott brown, and steven izenour admit to an ulterior motive of its invention.. Robert venturi was the architect who redefined the renowned phrase “less is more” into “less is a bore”. i think it is a refreshing breakout from the era of modernist praise of repetitive glass boxes. his theory of the duck and decorated shed is very valid..