Learning From
Las Vegas
It was 32 years ago that an architectect, little known then, well known now, Robert Venturi, ventured into Las Vegas with two dozen students from Yale University, and invaded the Stardust Hotel. The result of that trip would become his influential 1972 book, Learning from Las Vegas, which would introduce the world to Post-Modernist architecture. Today every big-city downtown has new skyscrapers that look like old skyscrapers. Almost every suburb has a shopping center decorated with phony arches, fake pediments, and imitation columns. Indeed, Venturi's manifesto that Las Vegas would become a beacon for the architecture of the future transformed architecture throughout the world. Today in Las Vegas, is an exact reproduction (scale 1:1) of the Piazza di San Marco in Venice (Disney World's is much smaller), with all its world famous architectural landmarks and 5000 guest rooms to boot.

Now, consider the famous Campanile tower, the real one in Italy: while it is handsome construction, and one of the most famous buildings in the world, the one standing in Venice isn't even the real tower. The original collapsed in 1902, and a new tower was built in 1912. A reproduction. Not the authentic article. You get the picture?

Just as Las Vegas has been a forerunner for post-modernist architecture, this incredible city, which operates at full steam 24 hours a day, will in time become the cultural capital of the world! We already have Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne and Picasso making their first appearances there, and cities like Paris, Venice, New York, Cairo and Rome, have already been recreated. I can't wait for someone in the 21st century to make a city attempting to imitate Las Vegas; in Japan for instance. Just imagine, they would have to reproduce a large chunk of the world already reproduced in Vegas. A copy of the copy, now that's a great idea.


LegoLand, Germany
Now before you scoff and cringe at the idea that Las Vegas is the cultural capital of the world, keep this in mind: Las Vegas, all its glitz, tackiness, gaudiness, phoniness, excess and greed is really just the Venice of its time.

What? Venice was just like Las Vegas in its hey day? That's right. Venice Italy, the great classical city of art and romance, was nothing more than a garrish, commercial "sin city" in its time. Prompt: Why will Las Vegas become the Venice of its time? Why, despite all its tacky granduer, will LV be America's greatest architectural wonder, not New York or Chicago. Why was Venice (here you'll have to do some research) considered the Las Vegas of its time? And how about a place like Celebration? If Las Vegas, fake as it is, is the perfect American city, isn't Celebration America's home town? Really puts a monkey wrench in reality, no? Talk about surreal.