Architect Robert Venturi retires; firm rebranded

    Respected Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi has retired from Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc., and his firm has become VSBA, LLC.

    Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc., was responsible for many prominent buildings in Philadelphia, include Lenfest Hall at the Curtis Institute.

    VSBA, LLC and is now under the leadership of president and principal Daniel K. McCoubrey.  McCoubrey, together with fellow principal Nancy Rogo Trainer, will build on architectural and planning principles instituted by founders Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

    “As we’ve evolved as a firm, our approach to design has remained deeply rooted in understanding and responding to context at many levels,” said McCoubrey.

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    Dan McCoubrey was principal-in-charge for the Curtis Institute of Music’s new Lenfest Hall and for additions and renovations at the Allentown Art Museum. He recently directed a series of projects for Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC, including a new research library. He has led projects for Penn, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, the Barnes Foundation, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, among others.  A graduate of Penn’s School of Architecture, he has taught at Drexel since 1986, lectures widely, and is a member of the Philadelphia Historical Commission Architectural Review Committee.

    “Our office is full of talented people who bring the social, environmental, and practical aspects of a project together in creative and beautiful ways,” said Trainer.

    Nancy Rogo Trainer was recently principal-in-charge for renovation of historic Fay House at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, where she directed renovation of Schlesinger Library and campus planning. She led campus plans for Villanova, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford and designed projects at Harvard Divinity School and Bryn Mawr, among others.  A graduate of Penn’s School of Architecture, Nancy teaches at Drexel, lectures extensively, and is a member of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.

    After over fifty years as one of the world’s most renowned architects, Bob Venturi has retired from practice, while Denise Scott Brown continues to publish and present her work.

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