brazilian pavilion, venice 1964.
architect: amerigo marchesin.
brazilian pavilion - saying it almost beats seeing it - but I can't be the only architect who ever wondered about this structure. the enormous U-shaped beam you enter under is wonderful, even if spatially the pavilion is over so quickly.
it seems related to the sao paolo school of brutalist architecture - lina bo bardi & paolo mendes da rocha - but the architect behind it is local.
EDIT: for more on the authorship, please read comments below.
Tags: brazilian pavilion venezia venice italy italia brazil biennale architecture arkitektur modernism modern modernist hardwood wood facade arquitectura Architectuur arquitetura Architektur Architettura building gebäude haus gebouw bouw bygning batiment maison edificio huis casa Henrique Mindlin Giancarlo Palanti
covered courtyard for the exhibition of sculptures,
central biennale pavilion, venice 1950-1952.
architect: carlo scarpa, 1906-1978.
with spaces like this at the biennale, who can spend time looking at yet another load of renderings and photoshop collages?
a courtyard covered with a sail-like structure is entirely appropriate in italy and beautifully translated into concrete by scarpa.
here is his old love, frank lloyd wright, quoted in the column/planter which covered in foliage stops short of the very roof it is meant to support. here is the crude postwar concrete made attractive by le corbusier but strung out in curves handled with an elegance we have since learnt to associate with brazilian architecture rather than italian.
the 1950's were great years in architecture and what a moment for scarpa to come into his own. and how typical and strangely fearless of him to keep the buildings and architects and artworks that influenced him clearly visible in his own finished works.
when you stand there, though, the place is all about the manipulation of light.
the roof-sail-canopy cuts out direct sun light and instead the light bounced off the reddish-orange brick walls permeates the space, its warmth contrasted only by the reflections from shallow pools of water animated by little fountains.
I don't know who else could get away with that in 1952, post-war reconstruction and all, except possibly wright. but he was a million years old, at which age you can get away with murder.
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the scarpa set.
Tags: carlo scarpa architecture architect venice venezia italy italia biennale modernism modern modernist brick concrete courtyard light arquitectura architektur arkitektur arquitetura Architectuur Architettura seier+seier creative commons CC
social housing near (and originally for) the arsenale.
venice, italy, 16th century.
sunday laundry.
historically, venice - insular and dependent on its ship-building industry - has taken the problem of state subsidized housing very seriously. the results are visible even today as is the original level of ambition.
Tags: venezia venice venedig italy italian architecture arkitektur social housing subsidized facade building arquitectura architektur bygning arquitetura Architectuur Architettura gebäude haus gebouw bouw batiment maison edificio huis casa bolig boligbyggeri seier+seier creative commons CC
ticket booth, venice 1952.
architect: carlo scarpa, 1906-1978.
the scarpa set.
Tags: carlo scarpa ticket booth architecture venice venezia italy italia biennale modernism modernist concrete arquitectura architektur arkitektur arquitetura Architectuur Architettura carlo scarpa seier+seier creative commons CC