MOVIES: Special screenings — Famed architects inspire documentary preview

Legendary husband-and-wife architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown shook up the design world in 1972 with their landmark book "Learning From Las Vegas."

And Las Vegas is the fitting location for a Tuesday night screening of "Bob and Denise," a new documentary about the team directed by their son, Jim Venturi.

The preview, scheduled Jan. 25 at the Las Vegas Design Center, will include a second documentary directed by Jim Venturi, the short "Saving Lieb House," as part of the market's Design Series.

Jim Venturi spent more than six years filming the documentary about his parents. The shoot included a June 2009 visit to Las Vegas, with the Strip, the Fremont Street Experience and the Neon Museum on the location itinerary.

As Jim Venturi observed then, Las Vegas doesn't quite look the same as it did when "Learning From Las Vegas" debuted, startling the design world with its droll appraisal of the Strip's neon-accented appeal to visitors from automobile-oriented Los Angeles.

Such changes are "definitely a topic of our trip," Venturi told the Review-Journal in June 2009. "If you understand why they liked Las Vegas then, you understand why they're not as interested in Las Vegas now," he commented. "Certain things have stayed the same, and certain things have not."

Tuesday's screening will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Las Vegas Design Center, 495 S. Grand Central Parkway, Building C, Room C352; a meet-and-greet reception with Jim Venturi will follow.

There's no charge to attend the event, but attendees should RSVP to events@lasvegasmarket.com to guarantee a seat. More information is available by phone at 599-9621 or online at www.lvdesigncenter.com.