Tag: carlo-scarpa | ArchDaily

La Biennale di Venezia Unveils Renovated Central Pavilion at the Giardini

Reyyan Dogan — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 06:30:00 +0000

La Biennale di Venezia has unveiled the renovated Central Pavilion at the Giardini, completing a comprehensive intervention delivered between December 2024 and March 2026 as part of a broader national program to enhance cultural infrastructure. Funded by the Italian Ministry of Culture under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and its complementary investment program (PNC), the project contributes to the development of a permanent hub for cultural production and exchange in Venice. The works form part of a wider initiative involving multiple sites associated with the Biennale, including the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other locations across the city, developed in coordination with local authorities and heritage institutions.

Revisiting 2025: 20 Classic Projects and Defining Stories in Architecture

Camilla Ghisleni — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Every architectural project is the result of deliberate choices. Beyond form and function, buildings embody technical, political, and cultural decisions that shape their relationship with both their surroundings and the people who inhabit them. ArchDaily’s AD Narratives series explores these processes by bringing together accounts that trace projects from initial conception to built realization. In parallel, the AD Classics series turns to works of historical significance, presenting not only the stories behind these buildings but also technical drawings that allow for a deeper, more informed reading of their architecture.

The Venice Biennale Over Time: Classic Projects and Stories from Architecture’s Most Iconic Exhibition

Camilla Ghisleni — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Since 1895, the Venice Biennale has invited the world to witness the evolving landscape of contemporary art. In 1980, the event expanded its reach with the launch of the Architecture Biennale, which quickly became one of the discipline’s most influential global platforms. Today, alternating annually between contemporary art and architecture, the Biennale affirms itself as a space where disciplines and ideas intersect. Always timely and provocative, it fuels essential debates on the role of art and architecture in the contemporary world. Among its most recent editions are the 17th Architecture Biennale, themed How Will We Live Together? (2021), curated by Hashim Sarkis; The Laboratory of the Future (2023), by Lesley Lokko; and Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective (2025), curated by Carlo Ratti and open to the public until the end of November.

The Silent Pavilion: Carlo Scarpa and the Giardino delle Sculture at the Venice Biennale

Camilla Ghisleni — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

When we think of Venice, familiar images come to mind: Piazza San Marco, winding canals, and the reflection of Byzantine domes on still waters. Few, however, imagine that among those reflections lies a discreet chapter of Italian modernity — the architecture of Carlo Scarpa.

From Little Venice to Venice: The Narrative of Carlo Scarpa’s Venezuela Pavilion

Mohieldin Gamal — Sat, 09 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Nestled amongst the plethora of grandiose and carefully crafted national pavilions in the Giardini della Biennale in the Italian city of Venice is one pavilion by the city's perhaps most well-known modern architect. Sited between the pavilions of Russia and Switzerland is the Venezuela Pavilion, by architect Carlo Scarpa. In many ways, the structure typifies the design approach of its architect but has its idiosyncrasies. Built for Europe's most important biennial art exhibition, it is a member of a cohort of Modernist pavilions that came after the earlier, more classicist pavilions. This is its story.

Between Matter and Gesture, Architectures that Think Through Details

Eduardo Souza — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

A project can be drawn in broad strokes, but it's built in details. Simple as it may seem, a staircase involves a significant degree of engineering. Some are noticeably more tiring, or more difficult to climb and descend. To address this, in the 17th century, architect François Blondel proposed a formula to ensure the ideal proportion between riser and tread, an equation that, when respected, offers a comfortable path. But there's another equally decisive factor: all steps must be identical. This may sound trivial and logical, yet executing anything with precision is always a construction challenge. Our bodies quickly adapt to the dimensions of the steps, and any variation (even minimal) can lead to repeated stumbles or missteps. A seemingly insignificant detail, when poorly resolved, can compromise the well-being and safety of an entire building.

AD Classics: Olivetti Showroom / Carlo Scarpa

Jonathan Yeung — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Tucked discreetly beneath the colonnade of Saint Mark's Square in Venice, Carlo Scarpa's Olivetti Showroom exerts a quiet yet unmistakable presence. Though often overshadowed by the grandeur of nearby landmarks—St. Mark's Basilica, the Clocktower, the Loggetta, and the Procuratie Vecchie—it attracts a particular kind of visitor: those who seek out one of Scarpa's architectural gems hidden in plain sight. Modest in scale but rich in detail, the showroom is meticulously maintained by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano), the National Trust for Italy.

Architecture Details 101 in Venice: Carlo Scarpa and David Chipperfield in Dialogue Across Time

Jonathan Yeung — Mon, 19 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In Venice, surrounded by an overwhelming abundance of architectural beauty—the grandeur of landmarks like the Basilica di San Marco, St. Mark's Square, and the Rialto Bridge, to name just a few—it is easy to become swept up in the iconic imagery and spatial majesty of the city. One could lose sight of the quieter, yet equally masterful, moments found in the execution of details across its built fabric. Beyond the grandeur, the city offers a richness in its winding alleyways, narrow canals, and vibrant street life—each contributing to the cultural tapestry that makes Venice so unique. Amidst these celebrated elements, however, lie subtle but remarkable architectural details that often go unnoticed. These deserve closer observation and reflection, as they offer their own kind of mastery—one grounded in material precision, craft, and the lived rhythms of the city.

Venice Architecture City Guide: 15 Historical and Contemporary Attractions to Discover in Italy’s City of Canals

Maria-Cristina Florian — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Built on a cluster of 118 small islands in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, the city of Venice, Italy, has captivated the imagination of architects and tourists alike. The area has been inhabited since ancient times, becoming a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, as proven through the rich architecture that characterizes the city to this day. With influences from the Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles, the city represents a palimpsest of architectural narratives, overlapping and influencing each other. In recent years, Venice has become a major attraction for architects drawn to the La Biennale di Venezia, the most important Architectural Exhibition featuring national pavilions, exhibitions, and events to explore new concepts and architectural innovations.

Beyond Form: How Light and Shadow Define Architectural Atmosphere

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Architecture is often defined by its physical form, materials, and structural elements, but light and shadow truly shape the experience of space. These elements influence perception, guide movement, and evoke emotional responses, transforming static structures into dynamic environments. Throughout history, architects have harnessed the interplay of light and shadow, using it as a fundamental design tool to create atmosphere and meaning.

The Architecture of Dune: Leveraging the Past to Create a Myth of the Future

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Imagine a world thousands of years into the future, one where humanity has conquered planets from galaxies away, only to default to a neofeudalistic social order in a constant power struggle, all built upon an intricate tapestry of cultures and religions and set in a harsh yet vivid landscape that becomes a character in and of itself. This was the challenge faced by director Denis Villeneuve and production designer Patrice Vermette in creating the cinematic adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel. The two Dune movies, released in 2021 and 2024, were conceived as a whole and therefore share a coherent style and cinematic expression. Beyond aesthetics, the environment and architecture of Dune present a lived-in, believable world, one that anchors the action and characters, silently offering invaluable insights into the values and mythology of each civilization.

What Does Midcentury Modern Even Mean These Days?

George Dodds — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

“I Think of My Work as Imploding Rather than Exploding:” in Conversation with Michael Rotondi of Roto Architects

Vladimir Belogolovsky — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 03:30:00 +0000

Michael Rotondi’s buildings—museums, civic centers, education facilities, monasteries, restaurants, and residences—evoke kinetic mechanisms that fold, hinge, twist, and split open. They express the architect’s feelings, thinking, and mood at the time they had been designed, and, on some occasions, during their assembly and construction. Rotondi was born in 1949 in Los Angeles.

The Poetry of Water: Symbolic Meanings in Built Space

Camilla Ghisleni — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +0000

In a world of extravagant textures, colors, and flavors, who would have thought that a substance that has no color, no smell, and no taste is precisely the most essential for human existence? Antagonistic in itself, water carries an ambiguity of values and meanings that confer a high degree of complexity sustained by the versatile and soluble profile that distinguishes it in a complex simplicity. In this sense, water, as a source of life, has become an object of devotion and study over time. This has fostered a continuous effort focused on understanding, transporting, and controlling this element.

Carlo Scarpa, a Virtuous Architect of Water

Borja Fernández — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Even as a child, the Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa was very aware of the fundamental element that would describe and underpin his work many years later: water. When he played and ran around the maze of streets and canals, Scarpa listened to everything around him, especially the richness of stimuli that his hometown offered him. A sensitive reader of places, he found his great text in Venice. This culture, subtle and almost academic, except for that devotion to scenography and the esoteric, is built over time; art, space, history, all compiled in his readings, trips to knowledge, and in his contact with artists and writers.

Carlo Scarpa: The Master of Sculpture and Light

Kaley Overstreet — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Natural light is one of the most critical elements in architecture. Although unbuilt and difficult to control, it plays a crucial part in defining how space is perceived in terms of scale, textures, materiality, and overall atmosphere. Natural light also impacts the emotions people feel in a space, whether lack of light makes us feel fear and anxiety or ample light makes us feel safe and ethereal. As much as light impacts architecture, architecture also impacts light. Through framing vistas, creating 3D massings that cast sculptural shadows, and carving voids from solids that create unique light projections, many architects have mastered design techniques that utilize light in a way that seamlessly integrates it within a building- and perhaps one of the best to do this was the Venetian architect, Carlo Scarpa.

Exploring Territorial Relations: The Swiss Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Biennale is Curated by Karin Sander and Philip Ursprung

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 06:30:00 +0000

Switzerland’s project for its national pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia will be curated by Karin Sander and Philip Ursprung to explore territorial relationships within the Giardini of La Biennale. Titled “Neighbours,” their project is focused on the spatial and structural proximity between the Swiss Pavilion and its Venezuelan neighbor. By turning architecture itself into the exhibit, the project also highlights the bond between the architects of the two structures: the Swiss Bruno Giacometti (1907 - 2012) and the Italian Carlo Scarpa (1906 - 1978). The exhibition will be on display from May 20 to November 26, 2023.

Architecture That Hides Stories: A Look at the Brion Tomb by Carlo Scarpa

Mili Sánchez Azcona — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 05:30:00 +0000

As human beings we cannot live without stories, we need them to fill those gaps in our reality, to live in our imagination those thousands of lives that are different from ours and, in some cases, impossible.