Redefining the Art of Making through New Materials

Lindsay Evans

April 11, 2011

“Architecture is an art because it is interested not only in the original need of shelter but

also in putting together spaces and materials in a meaningful manner.”1 Architecture is designed

for its program, but within the design is the art of construction through materials. In order to be

successful, the materials must be attuned to each other, so that every combination becomes an

original. The innovation then develops in the characteristics of each material, its sensory

qualities, and the joint at which they come together. It becomes about how each material reacts

to the other. The Oxford English Dictionary defines architecture as “the art or science of

constructing edifices for human use” and as “the action and process of building.” The senior

project of the Semperian Anthropological Container is undertaking exactly this justified through

Gottfried Semper’s building theory. Reconfiguring the making of what is perceived to provide

familiarity to the occupants and its viewers is achieved through materiality construction

procedures and perceptive sensoriality. The focus is not on form or function, but rather on

abstract geometric thinking that goes

beyond material fabrication and steps

into performative invention. It is the

explanation of architecture through the

lens of anthropology. The four

elements; the hearth, roof, enclosure,

and mound are not specific entities but

a thematic process generating formal

development. The container is defined through systems of tense membranes held through

concealed constructional mechanics. The hearth of the pavilion is sheltered by the umbrella

1 Fascari, Marco. "The Tell-the-Tale-Detail." (1981):

Semperian Anthropological Container skin enclosure installation

canopy which filters light controlling the interior environment. The undulating skin enclosure

folds to allow limited indirect light to further illuminate the space.

Scarpa also does this; he has defined his style around

the basics of architecture, then in his design process he

works to continuously simplify his design by working to

perfect the details. Scarpa is successful in details aided his

ancient knowledge in Venetian carpentry, which has

established a true understanding of the very essence of the

materials beyond the culturally conveyed meaning of the

material, but also due to his love and obsession for craft,

detail, and scale. It is with this knowledge as well as the

knowledge of his influences of Frank Lloyd wright and the Japanese culture that Carlo Scarpa

that he is able to express his unique style precisely attuned to detail in materials through his

artesian method of design. Each detail is unique based on the properties of the materials being

used, which becomes the role of the architect to understand these

properties to produce unforced, natural joints which maximize the

expression of the material. Scarpa works to develop a joint which

maximizes the materials potential combined with an experimental and

innovative use of the material. Scarpa’s details have a relationship

between the whole and the parts and the relationship between the

craftsmanship and draftsmanship allow for a direct identity of process of perception and

production and the union of construction and construing.2

2 Fascari, Marco. "The Tell-the-Tale-Detail." (1981):

Cover of The Complete Works, displaying Scarpa’s plan and section of the Brion Tomb

Carlo Scarpa: Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, 1961-63, design of the service staircase door

The Semperian Anthropological Container should be understood by the information the

construction gives you. It is through the construction of the material and through its cuts and

folds that allow it to support a linear system. Each detail is formulated to become a vital

component to the system which is neither intrusive nor obsolete within the space, but rather a

narrative feature in the itinerary of the space. Enclosures were said to have their origins in

weaving. The most basic form of a spatial divider still seen in use in parts of the world today is

the fabric screen. Only when additional functional requirements are placed on the enclosure does

the materiality of the wall change

to something beyond fabric. This

is becomes the union of the

anthropological concept of

enclosure and the functional

invention produced through

modern materials.

The enclosures of the

container are defined through a

series of layers. The first

confronting the interior is functioning against climate. It provides the barrier between the

controlled and uncontrolled environments. In modern materials it emerges as a transparent

barrier restricted by the dimensions of new fabrication through tectonic supports. This then

layers into the next tectonic enclosure, providing structure to inner barrier and exterior light

screen. Translucency in the light screen has been popularized in modern construction, but can be

Roof construction as a layered systems structured by the umbrella, used to initially protect against the sun.

used to educate about the construction by allowing a visual connection into the methods of the

systems.

What is a roof? It is the ultimate form of shelter present through a form of structure,

providing overhead protection. Scarpa’s

oxidized bronze disc protects against the

weather, but also offers the filtration and

control of light into the interior. The

Semperian Anthropological Container

presents the roof as an umbrella. An

umbrella is a canopy to protect against rain

and light, a parasol whose primary function is protection. Supported by the quintessential

structure of a column, the umbrella extends beyond the container, providing maximum coverage.

The canopy of the umbrella is suspended from a fastening support due to the woven material

within the design; a subsystem is also required for the rain. The subsystem is materialized

through a tectonic diagrid system supporting a folding transparent surface that becomes an

interlocking fabricated system.

The Veritti Tomb, one of Scarpa’s less known projects designed during the first period of

Scarpa’s design career with Angelo Masieri, is an example of his influence of oriental

architecture. Part of the enclosure is covered by the roof made of a large disc of oxidized bronze,

set on two metal supports located in the wall and also suspended from a fastening support on a

metal beam. These details at the point of attachment and the dissociation of the elements and

partis are indications of the positional system of Scarpa’s architecture. Scarpa utilizes the very

nature of the materials to guide the design, while juxtaposing materials creating a harmonic joint,

Veritti Tomb roof made of large disc of oxidized bronze

Wall detail of Querini-Stampalia

which is a precise and sensuous use of each material. Similar to Peter Zumthor beliefs that “it is

possible to pursue details of the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmical elements without losing the

feeling for the composition as a whole – the whole that makes sense of the details.”3 It is in his

use of the raw materials and the understanding of their natural capabilities that inspires

composition.

Scarpa never strived to explore mass production, but rather worked with the same

artesian his entire life. Frampton says; “Technology has become radically autonomous,

optimized, and alienated; the subjective agent has lost its ritualized means and localized

equipment for making and representing shelter and is now left to float without the benefit of

traditional habits.” In many cases the craftsmanship of making has been lost with technology.

Mass production is centralized around efficiency and replication; however, in achieving this we

have lost the precision of master craftsmen. The

container is designed to reintroduce the quality of

making in fabrication. Scarpa reinvests in the value

of craft and detail, and in doing this Scarpa was able to

allow each building to transform into research of the

joining of materials. The container works to do exactly this, it is the balance of a material’s

traditional use combined with the ability to drive its potential that makes the architectural

working method innovative.

Material was never an afterthought for Scarpa, but rather a source of inspiration which

continuously influenced the project through completion. Materiality and details were never left

astray. Scarpa worked closely with the craftsmen to push the natural abilities of the material and

further it. All his works are examples of exemplified artesian and construction technique. Carlo

3 Zumthor, Peter, Maureen Oberli-Turner, and Catherine Schelbert. 2006. Thinking architecture

Scarpa is influential in that he revives craft of materials and reclaims them in a contemporary

manner. The design of the Veritti Tomb is primitive in Scarpa’s potential to manipulate

materials; however, it serves as a laboratory for the subtler formal strategies used at the

Fondazione Querini Stampalia.

The selection of appropriate materials reduced to an absolute minimum the problems

caused by flooding, to where water flows through a stone canal of the building. These materials

act as a stone canal guiding the water as it enters

its space in which Scarpa designed solely for the

water itself. The material palette for the project is

basic, wood and iron on the entering bridge, in the

main hall, which extends in the length all the way

to the courtyard, bands of “repen” subdivide a

surface of washed concrete which forms the

flooring here and climbs a portion of the walls, to

form a high wainscoting. The flooring constitutes a modern interpretation of the traditional

flooring made of courses of stone and cobble, found typically in the courtyards and portegos of

the palazzo of Venice. Scarpa’s interpretation of the floor is a continuously fluctuating

experience with the fluctuating tide.

The doorway is made of travertine, the shape of the door and doorway combined create a

distinctive pattern, sufficient to indicate its presence without interfering with the uniform texture

of the travertine. The walls are defined through travertine, glass, and concrete. Scarpa’s

formative works were glass objects produced from the Verini firm in Murano. In this glass it is

apparent, Scarpa’s respect to the conventions designed by glassmakers, but in it also is his

Bridge detail of the original entrance to the Querini-Stampalia, demonstrates the structural joint achieved through the nature of the materials

experimental approach. It is the balance of materials traditional use combined with Scarpa’s

ability to push its potential that makes his architectural working method so innovative. When

details are successful, that are not just decoration, they do not distract or entertain; but rather lead

to the understanding of the whole. Take the bridge that guides one into the Querini Stampalia.

The bridge is made up steel centering that describes a taut arch and rests upon two blocks; the

Istrian stone, fastened to the foundations of the “campiello” and to the entrance of the palazzo.

The supports of the railing is then made with iron plates, welded and screwed together, bear a

teak handrail that is reminiscent of naval architecture. The handrail is held up by round bars

welded to an iron tube. It is a material palette narrative of structure. Each element speaks of its

own structural properties. Scarpa manipulates this idea of structure to design each material in a

delicate manner. At each moment the material joins itself or a new material, the precision and

characteristic of the joint is brought forward to its full potential. Each joint unites the overall

composition, though each is fully intricate, non takes from the poetic design and nature of the

overall. Scarpa’s theme of the Querini Stampalia is summarized in Heidegger’s conceptions of

space, “the unobstructed clarity of the measured, rationalized opticality of formal representation

versus the phenomenologically thick, bounded, material experience of touch, hearing, and

smell.”4 It is in the clarity and simplicity of the space where the beauty is found through the

precision of the materials that unite the experience.

In the Drawings of the Brion Tomb, it is clearly evident how attuned to scale, detail, and

materiality Scarpa was throughout the entire design phase. Scarpa tended to push the scale of

one to one to be able to delve fully into the joinery of materials, surface treatment, and the

materials themselves. The architectonic is a kind of constructed narrative of the logic of the

4 Hays, Micheal. Architecture Theory since 1968. K nn t F mpton “T t t of m n nd t St t of

obj ct A d ng of t H m n Cond t on,” f om H nn A ndt The Recovery of the Public World, ed. Melvyn A. H (N w Yo t M t n’ P , 1979)

building. Scarpa creates the “myth of reality of a structural achievement” as Heidegger would

put it. Initially leading you into the building is an arch; the bridge made of concrete and

decorated in a mosaic inspired by the Venetian tradition. The Brion Tomb contains a wood

cover, cor-ten steel supports, and concrete footing with intricate detail and a heightened sense of

construction and craft. This joinery detail is not only apparent in the existing building, but also

in the initial drawing set for the project. The pattern of fasteners in the wood was studied along

with the complex joinery of the split cor-ten steel legs. Scarpa developed a relationship between

craft and construction to provide a narrative scheme characterizing his attention to window, stair,

and support.

“Scarpa created an architecture that would clearly express its own machine-driven time

without abandoning the psychic and sensual forces of place, materiality, and memory.”5 Louis

Kahn says that detail is the adoration of nature.

Scarpa allows the nature of each material to evolve

and guide the design through every joint, while

Scarpa works alongside to mold and expand the

material’s natural capabilities. Scarpa reinvented

traditional technology by returning to a dialogue with

craftsmen, who worked with him in close and

constant communication with every project. Scarpa’s

work rooted in an artisanal idea opposed the

contemporary language of mass-production. Scarpa instead proposed textured, solid, often

opaque and sculptural structures that would take their place in the continually changing fabric of

5 Scarpa, Carlo, R. Nicholas. Olsberg, and Guido Guidi. Carlo Scarpa, Architect: Intervening with History. New York:

Monacelli, 1999. Print.

Scarpa's hand drawing, use of precision in measurements in details from the original design phase

the city.6 It is the combination of history, craft, and invention, applied to the conditions of the

latter half of the twentieth century, marks Scarpa’s major contribution to the discipline of

architecture. All his works are examples of works of exemplified artesian and construction

technique. Scarpa had a love for craft; he tended to push the scale of one to one to be able to

delve fully into the joinery of materials, surface treatment, and the materials themselves. The

composition is

defined through the

pristine nature of the

design; a design

inspired by material,

detail, and joint.

If we base

our study upon the current forms of historiography which hold that modern architecture can be

traced back to the architecture of Enlightenment, linking Ledoux with Le Corbusier, or else

linking it to English domestic architecture, with specific reference to the Arts and Crafts

Movement. Carlo Scarpa diverges from this development of designing, diverging from all ideas

of mass production in modern architecture. Instead he allows each detail to be a unique

experiment in joinery. With these ideas Scarpa reinterprets the Semperian building theory

behind the principle elements of roof, hearth, enclosure, and mound. Four elements which are

the driving force behind the Semperian Anthropological Container.

6 Scarpa, Carlo, R. Nicholas. Olsberg, and Guido Guidi. Carlo Scarpa, Architect: Intervening with History. New York:

Monacelli, 1999. Print.

The culmination of the tectonic construction through new materials defined by Semper’s anthropological concepts of building theory

Semper’s final element is hearth. The hearth was the first of the elements created. Around the

hearth, the first groups assembled and the first alliances formed. The hearth formulates a core

for bringing people together. In Scarpa’s sculptural gallery of Canova the creator (of the

sculptures) and the safe guarder (Scarpa) are equally as important and essential to the

fundamental nature of the work of art; in the opinion of Heidegger, Canova, and Scarpa7 The

gallery is designed as a large open gallery, neutral enough not to distract from the sculptures

being displayed; however, Scarpa uses the space to define the sculptures within. The Semperian

Anthropological Container defines the Noguchi Akari lamps. The lamps are just as important as

the space defining them, and together they work to bring people together, giving a hearth to the

container.

In combination the buildings become laboratories of joints evolving new capabilities in

materiality and joinery. Never distracting from the function and composition, each detail

becomes a mute loveliness, adding to the value of composition. “Scarpa’s details are often

misinterpreted as exercises in virtuosity partially because of the artificiality of current

architectural aesthetics which can isolate image from purpose therefore reversing the process of

cause and effect. The complexity of his (Carlo Scarpa) work is the product of a deep

understanding of materials, their elaboration into artifacts and the capacity to reinvent them by

extrapolating the work of a few craftsmen with whom he had a lifelong relationship.”8 The

beauty is in the whole, our perception of the whole that is not distracted by the inessential detail.

George Baird describes Scarpa’s work as “not substituting reductively from (its) norms, nor

powerfully metaphorizing (its) individual elements, but rather building up (its) significance out

7 Los, Sergio. Carlo Scarpa: an architectural guide. Venice: Arsenale Editrice, 1995. Print.

8 Zambonini, Giuseppe. “P oc nd T m n t Wo of C o Sc p ” Vo 20 MIT P (1983) p g 21-42.

of the assembly of relatively diverse parts.”9 Architecture is designed for its program, but within

the design is the art of construction through materials. In order to be successful, the materials

must be attuned to each other, so that every combination becomes an original. The innovation

then develops in the characteristics of each material, its sensory qualities, and the joint of the two

materials. It becomes about how each material reacts to the other and develops the composition;

the combination successful through Carlo Scarpa’s mastering for craft, detail, and scale.

Palladio’s philosophy “ Modern man associated himself with the ancient world, not in

order to reflect, like a mirror, but to capture it’s spirit and apply it in a modern way.” The

container is founded upon Semper’s four elements and their relationship to anthropology,

function, and availability to redefine modern making methods.

9 Hays, Micheal. Architecture Theory since 1968. G o g d “L D m n on Amo ” n A c t ct

Works Cited

Fascari, Marco. To Tell-the-Tale of Detail. Via, 1984. Print.

Gregotti, Vittorio. Inside Architecture. Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the

Fine Arts, 1996. Print.

Hays, K. Michael. Architecture Theory since 1968. Cambridge, Massachusetts [etc.: MIT, 2000. Print.

Los, Sergio. Carlo Scarpa: an Architectural Guide. Venice: Arsenale Editrice, 1995. Print.

Scarpa, Carlo, R. Nicholas. Olsberg, and Guido Guidi. Carlo Scarpa, Architect: Intervening with

History. New York: Monacelli, 1999. Print.

Zambonini, Giuseppe. Process and Theme in the Work of Carlo Scarpa. Vol. 20. MIT Press, 1983. page

21-42.

Zumthor, Peter, Maureen Oberli-Turner, and Catherine Schelbert. Thinking Architecture. asel

irkh user, . Print.