Carlo Scarpa's legacy is mostly concentrated in Venice. Scarpa's modernist inclusions are so organically woven into the precious Venetian architectural eclecticism that there is no doubt that the same genius loci stood behind the shoulders of the architect of the XNUMXth century, which centuries earlier guided the hand of Filippo Calendario, Jacopo Sansovino, Pietro Lombardo, Bartolomeo Bona, Mauro Coducci, Antonio da Ponte.
Historians of architecture who study the multidisciplinary work of Carlo Scarpa agree that he is characterized by a special, close relationship with water and glass, the amorphous structure of which gives this solid material truly mystical properties.
Sculpture garden designed by Carlo Scarpa in 1952 for La Biennale di Venezia
Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, reconstruction according to the project of Carlo Scarpa. Photo: Ezio Zupelli
Showroom of the Olivetti brand in an alley in St. Mark's Square in Venice. Photo: © ORCH_chemollo
Even while studying at the Venetian Academy of Fine Arts, Carlo Scarpa collaborated with the founder of the Venini brand, Paolo Venini, and from 1932 to 1946 worked as the creative director of his glass factory on the island of Murano. Models designed by Scarpa are still produced by Venini, and examples from the first series, released in the middle of the XNUMXth century, are highly collectible.
Murano glass vases. Design by Carlo Scarpa for Venini
The iconic Poliedri chandelier designed by Carlo Scarpa for Venini
In architecture, Carlo Scarpa used colored glass, stained glass and mosaics almost as often as the early modernists, but he adhered to minimalism in proportions. Dotted or linear inclusions of stained glass in the mass of concrete are not decoration or excess, but skillfully placed accents that attract the eye.
A whole layer of design and architectural heritage remains hidden behind the doors of private residences. For his customers, Scarpa designed unique individual samples of furniture and decorative items, and for finishing works he invited craftsmen with whom he previously worked side by side on the restoration of ancient palazzos.
Villa Ottolenghi, Bardolino, Italy. Photo: Åke E: Son Lindman
Villa Ottolenghi, Bardolino, Italy. Photo: Åke E: Son Lindman
Zentner house is a villa in Zurich designed by Carlo Scarpa in 1968. Photo: Ilaria Orsini
Zentner house is a villa in Zurich designed by Carlo Scarpa in 1968. Photo: Ilaria Orsini
Scarpa's architecture is often programmed by the author taking into account acqua alta, the seasonal rise of water in the Venetian lagoon. This connection manifests itself most clearly in the reconstruction of Palazzo Querini Stampalia. The XNUMXth century palace, handed over by the owners to the city as a museum, suffered from regular flooding. The director of the museum asked Carlo Scarpa to eliminate this problem. But the architect decided not to argue with the tide. He widened the archways and allowed the tide to predictably flood the first floor of the building.
Flooded stairs in Palazzo Querini Stampalia. Photo source: Fondazione Querini Stampalia
Palazzo Querini Stampalia. Photo source: Fondazione Querini Stampalia
Drainage in the form of a labyrinth in the garden of Palazzo Querini Stampalia. Photo source: Fondazione Querini Stampalia
Water penetrated through openwork lattices, and then flowed through marble channels to the patio garden. These streams became the conductors of light and sound that filled the inner spaces of the palazzo (truthfully, one cannot fail to note that the abnormally high rise of water in the fall of 2019 overflowed the Scarpa pools and damaged the museum archives).
Garden of Palazzo Querini Stampalia. Photo: Francesco Castagna. Photo source: Fondazione Querini Stampalia
For the Venetians, water is sacred. Scarpa uses this image in the architectural design of Tomba Brion, a private memorial complex at the Azolo cemetery in Treviso. Water in flat concrete pools and aqueducts connects and unites the individual buildings of the complex into a single ensemble - the tomb, the meditation pavilion and the chapel.
The tomb of the Tomba Brion memorial complex. Photo: Federico Covre
The meditation pavilion of the Tomba Brion memorial complex. Photo: Federico Covre
Scarpa wrote this project like a poem, trying to transform geometry into a collection of philosophical meanings. "The place for the dead is a garden. I wanted to show the meaning of death and the ephemerality of life," he said in one of the interviews.
"Enter the water and come out of the water" - a large number of stairs, symbols of transition and rebirth, descend into the pools of Tomba Brion. This symbolism became prophetic for Scarpa himself. Before completing the construction of the complex, the architect died in 1978 as a result of an accident. During a trip to Japan, he fell down the stairs and died in hospital a few days later. Carlo Scarpa was buried in the Azolo cemetery not far from his masterpiece Tomba Brion.
Carlo Scarpa is an Italian designer and architect. 1906–1978
Carlo Scarpa's localism, his close connection with symbols and images of Italian culture, with local crafts — what made him almost invisible in the era of international trends, today brings the name of the last modernist to the fore. Just as the alabaster steps at Querini Stampalia are exposed when high water recedes.
