Carlo Scarpa and the construction of in-between space: water as a threshold element at Querini Stampalia

This thesis deals with the use of water as an architectural factor in the depiction of thresholds in Carlo Scarpa’s architecture, with focus on Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice as a primary case study. Scarpa converts a functional renovation into an elaborate stratification of the narrative sp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Merz, Anastasia
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:upcommonspor::dde1161bbda7dd26522a015bd7b4f71e
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/462209
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Scarpa, Carlo, 1906-1978 -- Criticism and interpretation
Water and architecture -- Italy -- Venice
Fondazione scientifica Querini Stampalia
Scarpa, Carlo, 1906-1978 -- Crítica i interpretació
Aigua i arquitectura -- Itàlia -- Venècia
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Arquitectura::Composició arquitectònica::Teoria i estètica arquitectòniques
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Arquitectura::Arquitectes
Descripción
Sumario:This thesis deals with the use of water as an architectural factor in the depiction of thresholds in Carlo Scarpa’s architecture, with focus on Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice as a primary case study. Scarpa converts a functional renovation into an elaborate stratification of the narrative space such that water is not only a symbolic or natural factor, but a choreographed performer in the progression of arrival, passage and reflection. Through the use of architectural drawings as both representational and exploratory tool, reconceptualizes movement through space by means of the material and the perpetually variable water level. The entry sequence at Querini Stampalia is examined in exhaustive original analytical drawings in order to discover how water defines and erodes thresholds and how Scarpa’s responsiveness to place, context and atmosphere reveals the persistence of the thresholdthrough the projects. By placing Querini in the context of Scarpa’s earlier and later projects, the research traces the development of the threshold-producing projects such that the techniques initially experimented upon by projects such as the Sculpture Garden or the Partigiani Monument reach maturity at Querini and recur transformed at the Brion Cemetery, Castelvecchio Museum and elsewhere. Finally, the thesis asserts that Scarpa’s architecture is characterized not by stable demarcations, but by the creation of “in-between” spaces such as spatial conditions where water, material and movement meet and create the emotional, the symbolic and the architectural resonance.