Querini Stampalia Foundation

Carlo Scarpa - Querini Stampalia Foundation, Venice Italy, 1961-1963

In 1949 the Presidency Council of the Querini Stampalia Foundation decided to begin the restoration of some parts of the Palazzo.
Manlio Dazzi, director of the Foundation, entrusts Carlo Scarpa with the task of rearranging a part of the ground floor and the garden at the back of the building which are in a state of extreme abandonment and decay.
The project was carried out only ten years later with the direction of Giuseppe Mazzariol, friend and supporter of the Venetian master.
Mazzariol wishes to encourage the organization of cultural activities and reorganize the entrance to the Palazzo by bringing it to the facade and to the Campiello Querini Stampalia. He therefore identifies precisely in the ground floor (and in the open space behind it) rendered unusable by the frequent invasions of sea water, the rooms intended for exhibitions, conferences and other initiatives.

Scarpa's restoration is based on a measured combination of new and old elements and on a great mastery in the use of materials.
Water is the protagonist: from the canal overlooked by the building, it enters the building through bulkheads that run along the internal walls; it is located in the garden in a large multi-level basin in copper, concrete and mosaic and in a small canal at the ends of which there are two labyrinths carved in alabaster and Istrian stone. (see the video of the pretty fountains)

The work of the great master of Italian architecture of the 20th century, at Palazzo Querini Stampalia is divided into four themes: the bridge, which represents the lightest connecting arch built in Venice in recent centuries; the entrance with the defense barriers from high waters; the portego and the garden.
Between 2006 and 2008 the Carlo Scarpa area was the subject of a rigorous conservative intervention.
Source: www.querinistampalia.org

See also the dwg drawings of the project ... >>