TOP ARCHITECT TAPPED FOR TOUGH MUSEUM TASK

He has been called the “father of post-Modernism,” but he despises labels, saying with unusual passion, “I hate them--I hate such silly slogans. Take on such things while you’re still alive, and you become them. They demand a style and an ideology all their own. That’s it--they begin to dictate an ideology.”

Labels notwithstanding, he can be called a hard worker. He has said: “To be 10% better, you have to work 100% harder.” There are those who say that Robert Venturi working harder is like Michelangelo or Beethoven working harder.

The “genius” of Venturi’s architecture--”genius” is just one of his many labels--has been seen in a molecular biology lab at Princeton University; city planning contracts in Memphis, Tenn., and Austin, Tex.; a primate house and a children’s educational exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo--even a building in Baghdad.

And now Venturi, who turns 62 this month, has been commissioned to design a 10,000-square-foot addition to the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. The aim, in the words of museum director Hugh Davies, is to double exhibition space without compromising the architecture of Irving Gill, who designed the existing building in 1941.

As it turns out, Venturi is one of Gill’s biggest fans.

“Buildings are thrilling,” Venturi said. “I enjoy looking at beautiful buildings--it’s inborn in me. And I’ve always greatly admired West Coast architecture. I love the work of Irving Gill. I love the intimate scale of his work, the natural settings. I can’t say enough about him.”

Davies said that Gill designed most of the buildings in La Jolla’s so-called “cultural zone” on or near Prospect Street--the museum, the La Jolla Woman’s Club across the street and the Bishop’s School down the street.

“We like Venturi because he has tremendous experience in building museums,” Davies said. “He’s working on additions to the National Gallery of London and to the Seattle Art Museum. He’s designed a new building in (Austin) Texas that we like. Those are all fairly recent. More than 10 years ago, he designed an addition to Oberlin College (in Oberlin, Ohio). These were all tricky buildings to design.

“Our second consideration was his sensitivity to Irving Gill’s architecture. In many ways, Gill was one of the more important architects the country has ever produced. Venturi has known about Gill for more than 40 years. Venturi is extremely respectful of the context Gill was working in.”

Davies believes Venturi has “affected the course of architecture more than anyone else the past 20 years. The buildings he’s done have changed the look of architecture. He reintroduces humanistic principles, rather than glorifying technology and sleekness. He glorifies people--buildings for people.

“It sounds inflated, but I genuinely believe we’ve picked the best architect working today, not just nationally but internationally.”

Even so, this architect doesn’t know what he’ll do with Davies’ museum, much less how . He calls the limitations extreme. He has been asked to double the 10,000 square feet of exhibition space to better show 3,500 permanent pieces, many of which remain in storage. He’ll have to do so on a piece of land already badly cramped, with seemingly little room for growth.

“I call it a challenge--a difficulty that’s enticing,” Venturi said. “Yes, it’s a complex situation with complex problems. It’s always more difficult to add to existing space than it is to start all over. The site itself also makes it difficult. The site has a sharp slope (on the rear, or ocean, side of the structure). On one side you have the vast Pacific, on the other a beautiful urban complex of buildings. How do I make it all blend in? I don’t know yet, but blend is a very good word.”

Museums themselves are challenging structures with which to work, Venturi said, “because you have to have galleries that work well with the art--that serve the art. Lighting is extremely crucial. The architecture has to be positive, even bold, while also being recessive--recessive because it works as a background for what you’re exhibiting or showing.

“I like the idea of a museum being much more than a place to view art. It’s an educational institution. It constitutes a beautiful and varied experience. You don’t go there just to look at art. You go to have lunch, to buy books, to see friends. It’s varied and fun. The architecture should be like that.”

Varied and fun seems to be Venturi’s style, not just in architecture but in life. He loves fast games of tennis, and Las Vegas--with all its flash and sizzle--is one of his favorite cities. He loves decoration and “indulgence.”

His most-quoted expression of post-Modernism has been the comment: “Less is a bore,” a dare to the “less is more” edict of modern architecture, particularly those who prefer glass skyscrapers to more elaborate, historic structures. Venturi has been quoted as saying he prefers “a messy vitality,” with hybrid styles and levels of culture working--blending--together.

He likes the fact that on occasions subtlety is called for; on others, boldness. He never knows, he said, how a given project will end up. In this case, he has only just begun the process with the museum.

He does say that architecture needs to reflect its surroundings. A building in New Hampshire ought to be different from one in Chicago, and one in Chicago ought to be different from one in La Jolla.

Davies said he expects a schematic design from Venturi about a year from now. He will then use that as a lobbying tool, showing it to city planners, the Coastal Commission, the La Jolla Town Council and others whose approval is needed. The design will also be shown to donors. Davies and Venturi say it should be complete by 1991, the museum’s 50th anniversary.

“Venturi is quite baffled by the complicatedness of the site,” Davies said with a gentle laugh. “But sometimes out of tricky parameters you get brilliant solutions. Our best chance of getting something brilliant was to hire Robert Venturi.”