Professor Maddalena Scimemi
Lecturers Lorenzo Lazzarini, Mario Piana, Marco Zito.
Course Description
Over the centuries, the architecture of Venice has reflected with particular clarity the tectonic principles of its materials, as well as the history of their provision. The course aims at introducing the physical essence of the city through direct contact with selected materials by means of manifold complementary approaches.
A first introductory session will be devoted to the image of the city to provide an orientation in the broad repertory of iconographic materials concerning Venice and its surroundings. The following sessions, from week to week, will investigate the nature of glass, timber, marble and stone, as well as their implications in architectural forms. Different specialists will go into depth on the techniques and their aesthetics through time, and will take the students to sites of interest.
A special experience will be the core of the glass session: a practical design atelier will have each student design a real object, that is a small glass architecture.
Course Requirements
Attendance and Participation
Attendance is required as well as active participation. Since classes will be integrated by visits on site, our meeting place will vary as listed on the course schedule. Please note these locations. If you arrive late, or miss class, you must provide a valid justification and you are responsible for getting any handouts, notes, tickets, etc. on your own for the missed class.
Taccuino (Sketchbook)
Freehand Drawing is required for each session. Every student is asked to elaborate sketches and freehand diagrams – better in plan – inspired by a list of selected buildings and by the architectures discussed during the sessions. All the drawings must be collected in an individual sketchbook or “taccuino”, which testifies to the attendance of the student and will be evaluated at the end of the course.
LIST OF SELECTED BUILDINGS
- San Giobbe
- Madonna dell’Orto
- San Nicolò dei Mendicoli
- San Pietro di Castello
- San Giacomo dall’Orio
- San Giorgio dei Greci
- San Francesco della Vigna
- San Sebastiano
Reading
Readings from the course pack are required for each session. Assigned articles and book chapters from other sources will be available through Collab. Even though the readings will not always perfectly correspond to the content of the lecture, it is important to follow the schedule of readings for the overall understanding of the material.
itineraries (Final Project)
The students, organized in groups (min 3 – max 5 people), are asked to create a thematic itinerary inside the city (or its lagoon), devoted to a specific material – water, wood, stone, glass – which has been investigated during the course. The connecting thread of the chosen material will guide along monuments or ordinary buildings, always keeping in mind the issue of architecture as the play of space, light and matter.
The itineraries will be shown on the presentation day (december 1st), in the format of your choice (pdf is preferable) and will include at least:
- A map (or maps) of Venice with the path in evidence;
- A list of monuments/buildings/artworks selected;
- A repertory of images of each object (or site) listed (archive photos/ archive drawings/ new campaign photos / free hand sketches, etc);
- An anthology of literary sources (apart from the reference readings provided)
- Reference and selected bibliography and web sites.
Course Evaluation
- Attendance and active participation (30%): individual
- Sketchbook TACCUINO (35%): individual
- Final Project ITINERARIES (35%): group work
Course Schedule
Please note that the program scheduled may be changed due to unforeseeable circumstances.
15 September, Tuesday PIAZZA SAN MARCO (9:00-12:00am)
MADDALENA SCIMEMI
Introduction: the monumental gate of Venice, the piazza and its functions, the Olivetti showroom by Carlo Scarpa.
18 September, Friday Fondamente Nuove, boat stop line nr.12 (9:00-12am)
MADDALENA SCIMEMI
The Image of Venice (I) day trip to Torcello: A first sight of the lagoon from its northern side, experiencing the most ancient island settlements and analyzing the middle Byzantine architecture church of Santa Fosca in Torcello.
22 September, Tuesday SCUOLA GRANDE of S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA (9:00-9:45am)
MADDALENA SCIMEMI
The Image of Venice (II): an introductory survey of iconographic sources through the centuries to understand the topography of the lagoon and the form of Venice, within the Veneto Region
ALESSANDRA SCHIAVON
ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI VENEZIA (10:00-12:00am): Visit to the spaces and deposits of the State Archive of Venice, in the convent of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
Reading
- Schulz, The printed plans and panoramic views of Venice: 1484-1797 [Introduction], in Saggi e memorie di Storia dell’Arte, VII, 1970, pp. 13-33.
September 29, Tuesday SCUOLA GRANDE of S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA (9:00-12:00am)
MADDALENA SCIMEMI
The Image of Venice (III) (9:00-10:15am): ordinary buildings and exceptional urban patterns, or the importance of the “Venezia Minore”. basic notions of Venetian glossary.
MARCO ZITO
Glass session (I) (10:30-12:00am): Design Atelier. Venice, or rather Murano, is glass. Glass is fragile, colored, fickle, transparent, glass is light. We will think of small, experimental glass architectures which can be held in hand. Surfaces, colors and substances simulated by paper, wood, drawing and all else that could help. We will see where the glass is born and where it takes form. A design atelier aimed at realizing small glass architectures, with the collaboration of AUT designers and the Salviati Factory.
Reading
- Goy, Venice: the city and its architecture, London 1997, pp. 46-57 (3. Constructing a City: materials, craftsmen and Techniques).
No readings required for the design atelier). For images and ideas: http://www.venini.it; http://www.98800.org/aut; http://www.breaking-the-mould.com/en/; http://www.marcozito.com; www.salviati.com.
October 6, Tuesday VISIT TO MURANO (9:00-12:00am)
MADDALENA SCIMEMI MEET AT THE FONDAMENTE NOVE boat stop linea 4.1 (8:20am)
MARCO ZITO
Glass session (II): Design Atelier. Visit to a working furnace in Murano, with the collaboration of AUT designers and the Salviati Factory (Dario Stellon).
Reading
- Verità, Thousand years of Venetian glass, in Actes of the 17th Congress of the International Association for the History of Glass (2006), Amsterdam 2009, pp. 602-613.
DRAWINGS for the TACCUINO (pick out nr.2 sites among the listed architectures).
October 13, Tuesday SCUOLA GRANDE of S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA (9:00-12:00am)
MADDALENA SCIMEMI GROUP DISCUSSION (taccuino/itineraries)
MARCO ZITO Glass session (III): Design Atelier. Final presentation of students works.
October 16, Friday meet at the S. Lucia train station at 7:30am (train leaves at 7:41)
TRIESTE (day trip) Departure from Trieste at 5:15pm (expected arrival in Venice at 7:20pm)
Reading
No readings required: GLASS design atelier FINAL PRESENTATION;
DRAWINGS for the TACCUINO (pick out nr.2 sites among the listed architectures).
October 27, Tuesday to be determined (9:00-12:00am)
MARIO PIANA
Timber Session (I): the culture of wood in Venetian architecture, describing local traditional building techniques and problems of the conservation of timberworks during centuries; the construction of wooden-beam floors, trussed roofs and wooden domes considered in detail.
GIANNI CANIATO MEET IN FRONT OF CINEMA ITALIA, STRADA NOVA (4:00-6:00pm)
Visit to Arzanà, calle de le Pignate, Cannaregio 1936: an old shipyard (squero in Venetian) where originally gondolas and other boats were built.
Reading
- Goy, Venice: the city and its architecture, London 1997, pp. 74-85 (5. The Arsenale: Trading Power and Naval Supremacy).
DRAWINGS for the TACCUINO (pick out nr.2 sites among the listed architectures).
October 30th, Friday meet at the S. Lucia train station at 8:30am (train leaves at 8:42)
PADOVA (day trip) Departure from Padova at 5:51pm (expected arrival in Venice at 6:08pm)
November 3, Tuesday to be determined (9:00-12:00am)
MARIO PIANA
Timber Session (II): the analysis of timberworks and their restoration in three case studies: the churches of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and Santa Maria della Salute.
Reading
- Piana, The Dome of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice: its construction and restoration, 2010, (pdf provided).
DRAWINGS for the TACCUINO (pick out nr.2 sites among the listed architectures).
November 10, Tuesday SCUOLA GRANDE of S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA (9:00-12:00am)
LORENZO LAZZARINI
Stone Session (I): an historical survey of the stones and marbles of Venice, mapping their provenance – from the marble quarries in the Mediterranean Sea to the Istrian stone of the Dalmatian coasts – analyzing their characteristic features and discussing meaning and iconology of their use in Venetian architecture and ornamental details.
Reading
DRAWINGS for the TACCUINO (pick out nr.2 sites among the listed architectures).
November 17, Tuesday to be determined (9:00-12:00am)
LORENZO LAZZARINI
Stone Session (II): The Venetian façades and their stone apparatus. Visit to the external surfaces of monumental selected architectures.
Reading
- Wolters, The Doge’s Palace in Venice: a tour through art and history, Berlin and München 2010, 5-11, 19-26, 33-45, 55-58, 130-140.
- Lazzarini, The marbles of the Palace, in I Marmi del Doge, R. Galiotto (ed.), Vicenza 2009, pp. 29-55.
November 20, Friday S. VITO d’Altivole, MASER, MONTEBELLUNA
November 24, Tuesday visit to MUSEO CORRER tbd 9-12pm
MADDALENA SCIMEMI
Masters session – Carlo Scarpa: We will investigate Scarpa’s attitude in rethinking and innovating traditional building techniques and materials in the Venetian context.
Reading
Olivetti Showroom; Sculpture Garden, Ticket Office and Entrance for the Biennale; Venezuelan Pavilion at the Biennale; Museo Correr Historic Sections and Picture Gallery, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, in Carlo Scarpa Architecture and Design, G. Beltramini, I. Zannier, Rizzoli 2006, excerpts.
- Polano, The Art of Display, in Carlo Scarpa. Intervening with History, N. Olsberg (ed.), The Monacelli Press – CCA, 1999, p. 217-224.
1 December, Tuesday SCUOLA GRANDE of S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA (9:00-12:00am)
MADDALENA SCIMEMI group discussion / Final presentation ITINERARIES
VISITS tbd (Tuesday/Thursday afternoon)
The Giudecca island
The International Art Biennale of Venice (before November 22)
Photography Exhibition at Wilmotte Foundation
Biographies
LORENZO LAZZARINI
Geologist and full professor at the University IUAV in Venice where he teaches Mining Geo-Resources and Applied Petrography. Since 1993 he has directed the Laboratory for Analysis of Ancient Materials. He is a permanent member of the International Committee for the Preservation of the Acropolis Monuments of Athens as well as of many other national and international scientific associations. He is the editor of the journal of archaeometry and archaeology “Marmora”.
(http://www.iuav.it/Ateneo1/docenti/architettu/docenti-st/Lorenzo-La/index.htm)
MARIO PIANA
Architect and full professor of Restoration at the University IUAV in Venice, he is member of the Scientific Committee of Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura A. Palladio of Vicenza. From 1979 to 1998 architect at the Soprintendenza dei Beni Ambientali e Architettonici di Venezia, since then he has been involved in the most important restoration works of the monumental city: among them are Palazzo Grimani at Santa Maria Formosa, S. Maria della Salute, and the domes of the Basilica of San Marco.
http://www.iuav.it/Ateneo1/docenti/architettu/docenti-st/Mario-Pian/index.htm
MARCO ZITO
Architect and industrial designer, he is associate professor of Industrial Design at the University IUAV of Venice. His studio based in Venice specializes in product design, interior design and architecture: projects with Foscarini, Agape, Salviati, Olivetti, Lavazza, Plust, Deltacalor, Coin, Electrolux, Casamania, Danieli Group, Fila, Viabizzuno, Bosa, Saba. Publications in Abitare, Domus, Casabella, Intramuros, Wallpaper, Interni, Ottagono, Diid, The Plan.
UVA in Venice 