In his introduction to Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), Vincent Scully declared, “This is probably the most important writing on the making of architecture since Le Corbusier's Vers une Architecture, of 1923”—a statement that has become a truism in architectural history. But what can be made of this pronouncement more than half a century after it was written? Moreover, how are readers to revisit a book that is already so canonical?

In 2016, numerous exhibitions, symposia, and publications marked the fiftieth anniversary of Complexity and Contradiction's first appearance, including a three-day event at the MAXXI in Rome, features in JSAH and Architectural Design, and, most important, a two-day international symposium at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, whose press first published the book. At MoMA, scholars and architects from around the world gathered to discuss the book's significance and enduring impact. This...

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