The structure of Carlo Scarpa has a surprisingly quiet presence in Venice. Though Scarpa was born within the Italian metropolis in 1906, and spent a lot of his working life there, to hunt out his most notable constructed tasks you’ll end up peeking behind the shopfronts of St Mark’s Sq., wandering into palazzos or peering by way of the art-hungry crowds that mill concerning the Giardini Della Biennale. Scarpa noticed no must make his work extra outwardly exuberant, as a result of he was a person obsessive about finer particulars: akin to the best way two completely different textures of stone could possibly be paired, how gentle bounces off a sure sort of plaster, or the sound water makes when trickling out of a fountain. He even had a – largely unexplained – fascination with the quantity 11, which constantly crops up all through his oeuvre, together with references to Japanese structure and Venetian boatbuilding (two extra of his passions). For these eager to study extra about Scarpa and all his particularities, we’ve put collectively an inventory of must-see websites in Venice; it contains the architect’s personal designs, plus newer venues within the metropolis – just like the St Regis lodge – which riff on Scarpa’s unmistakably modernist type.
OUR CARLO SCARPA TOUR
Negozio Olivetti
(Picture credit score: Marco Gaggio)
This store-turned-museum was initially designed by Scarpa to showcase completely different fashions of the revered Olivetti typewriter, however now – due to cautious restoration by Italy’s FAI organisation – it gives a reminder of the architect’s mastery of supplies. The shop’s exterior is clad with slabs of easy and craggy stone, whereas inside is a sequence of vibrant mosaic flooring; crimson within the entryway to be a focus for passers-by on the road, and sunshine yellow within the again room to account for lack of pure gentle. On the coronary heart of the area is a suspended staircase crafted from Aurisina stone.
Biennale ticket sales space
(Picture credit score: Marco Gaggio)
Extra sculpture than ticket sales space, this small-scale undertaking by Scarpa sits empty within the gardens the place the Venice Biennale is held; since its erection in 1951, crowds for the annual artwork truthful have grown too large for it for use. A mixture of concrete combination and textured glass, the sales space is topped by a sail-like canvas roof supported by a trio of hardwood masts – a visible nod to the development of Venetian boats.
Palazzo Querini Stampalia
(Picture credit score: Marco Gaggio)
Throughout the sixteenth century, Palazzo Querini Stampalia was house to a noble household, however in 1869 it was remodeled right into a museum, library and archive. Scarpa was invited to replace the cultural establishment in 1959, putting in geometric gates at its entrance that allowed waters from the canal to lap up towards the bottom flooring. He additionally created a verdant backyard on the constructing’s rear, and an exhibition room with Mondrian-style travertine wall panelling.
Tomba Brion
(Picture credit score: Marco Gaggio)
Positioned round an hour outdoors of Venice within the unassuming city of San Vito d’Altivole, Tomba Brion is taken into account by many to be Scarpa’s magnum opus. Created across the sarcophagi of Giuseppe Brion (the founding father of electronics firm Brionvega) and his spouse, the burial grounds comprise a collection of meditative concrete volumes and our bodies of water that often stir with swimming carp fish. After his dying in November 1978, Scarpa himself was laid to relaxation in a quiet nook of the positioning.
Masieri Basis
(Picture credit score: Marco Gaggio)
The Masieri Basis stands proudly on a nook on the Grand Canal. It was created to honour the reminiscence of Angelo Masieri, a collaborator of Carlo Scarpa, who died in 1952, and is erected on the positioning of a former palazzo – initially to get replaced by a Frank Lloyd Wright design, which by no means went forward.
Aula Mario Baratto
(Picture credit score: Marco Gaggio)
A Carlo Scarpa inside, Aula Baratto is a part of Venice’s Ca’ Foscari College. It was created in 1935, initially conceived because the college’s very first Nice Corridor. The window body across the gothic opening, in addition to the scholars’ tribune, are a part of Scarpa’s design. The room was finally remodeled right into a lecture corridor by the identical architect between 1955 and 1956.
St Regis Venice
(Picture credit score: St Regis Venice)
Whereas not a piece of the grand grasp himself, the St Regis Venice interiors draw closely inspiration from Carlo Scarpa. Overlooking the banks of the Grand Canal, the 139-room lodge is affected by options that replicate Scarpa’s architectural method and materials palette – from its polished concrete ceilings, to the geometric panelling that may be seen beneath the concierge desks. Down within the lodge’s Arts Bar there’s even a heady cocktail impressed by the architect, served in a glass that mimics the interlocking circle motif seen at Tomba Brion.
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