Querini Stampalia Foundation

Carlo Scarpa - Querini Stampalia Foundation, Venice Italy, 1961-1963

In 1949 the Presidential Council of the Querini Stampalia Foundation decides to begin the restoration of some parts of the Palace.
Manlio Dazzi, director of the Foundation, entrusts to Carlo Scarpa the task of renovating a part of the ground floor and the garden at the back of the building which are in a state of extreme abandonment and degradation.
The project was realized only ten years later under the direction of Giuseppe Mazzariol, friend and supporter of the Venetian master.
Mazzariol wanted to encourage the organization of cultural activities and reorganize the Palazzo's entrance, moving it to the façade and Campiello Querini Stampalia. He therefore identified the ground floor (and the open space behind it), rendered unusable by frequent seawater intrusions, as the rooms for exhibitions, conferences, and other events.

Scarpa's restoration project is based on a measured juxtaposition of new and old elements and on great mastery in the use of materials.
Water is the protagonist: from the canal overlooking the building, it enters the building through bulkheads that run along the internal walls; it is found in the garden in a large multi-level basin made of copper, concrete and mosaic and in a small canal at the ends of which are two labyrinths sculpted in alabaster and Istrian stone. (see the video of the cute fountains)

The work of the great master of 900th-century Italian architecture at Palazzo Querini Stampalia is structured around four themes: the bridge, which represents the lightest connecting arch built in Venice in recent centuries; the entrance with its barriers to protect against high water; the portego (portego) and the garden.
Between 2006 and 2008, the Carlo Scarpa area underwent rigorous conservation work.
Source: www.querinistampalia.org