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In 1966 Robert Venturi put the first big nail in the Modernist coffin and opened the Pandora’s box that was Postmodernism. He did that with an essay called “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (a gentle manifesto for a nonstraightforward architecture)”, where he criticised the functionalist school with the now famous pun “Less is a bore”. Venturi advocates for complexity, richness and ambiguity and deems the purity and clean lines of Modernists as puritanical, impersonal and, yes, boring. Another classic well worth reading. Read an extract here.

Probably one of the most polemic essays written in the history of aesthetics, “Ornament and Crime”, the Loos’ manifesto, associates progress with the rejection of ornaments, banning the superfluous. Bare, basics elements and forms lead us to a more evolved state, not only culturally but also morally. The Vienese architect, author of masterpieces such as the Villa Mueller, makes his point with all sorts of colourful and provocative arguments and examples. Download .pdf file here