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Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978);                                                                                                                                                  The Sanctuary of the Tomba Brion, San Vito d’Altivole, Treviso, 1968-78

                                                                             photo:Pintrest

The Tomba Brion is the last of Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa’s monumental works. Here all the leitmotifs of his approach to architecture find mature expression: the modeling of architectural forms that invites comparison to sculpture, the juxtaposition of ‘poor’ materials such as cement (the principal building material here) with precious ones like coloured Murano mosaics and individually designed bronze cast fixtures and fittings; the use of reflecting pools and water courses to animate the inside light and define external transitions and boundaries. Scarpa’s idiosyncratic interpretation of modernism not only restored importance to architectural ornament, but his forms reveal a particular sensitivity to historic architectural types: Venetian Gothic, castle architecture and perhaps most unexpectedly traditional Japanese architecture. Revealing his singularly creative approach to materials, the architect’s principal works are highly respectful museum renovations in which his signature style sings in perfect harmony with the existing ancient buildings: the Renaissance Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo (1953-54); the Neoclassical Museo Canova, Possagno (1955-57); the Gothic Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona (1956-64) and the late Gothic Venetian vernacular of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (1961-63).

Text © Francesco Nevola

Francesco Nevola, a fabulous scholar of Piranesi.

see here older post on life and work of Francesco Nevola https://venetiakapernekasblog.com/2015/06/11/italyteverina-mountains-cortona-deanna-maganias-and-franciso-nevola-house-and-studio/