ARCHITECT'S

The Querini Stampalia Foundation Palace, has undergone major architectural restoration work by Carlo Scarpa, Valeriano Pastor and Mario Botta: three contemporary architects, three different signs who have entered and enhanced the spaces of the ancient sixteenth-century residence. Carlo Scarpa , under the direction of Giuseppe Mazzariol, carried out the now famous restoration of part of the ground floor between 1959 and 1963. Between the 1980s and 1990s, Valeriano Pastor designed a connection system between different floors of the building and between different buildings in the headquarters complex. Mario Botta , since 1994, defines a profound renewal of the headquarters through the reorganization of spaces and services.
Scarpa's restoration is based on a measured combination of new and old elements and on a great mastery in the use of materials. Water is the protagonist: from the canal overlooked by the building, it enters the building through bulkheads that run along the internal walls; it is located in the garden in a large multi-level basin in copper, concrete and mosaic and in a small canal at the ends of which there are two labyrinths carved in alabaster and Istrian stone. The work of the great master of Italian architecture of the 20th century at Palazzo Querini Stampalia is divided into four themes: the bridge, which represents the lightest joining arch built in Venice in recent centuries; the entrance with the high water defense barriers; the portego and the garden.
The architect Valeriano Pastor is responsible for some important interventions carried out in the period from 1982 to 1997 . Starting from an analysis of services and functions, his work will determine a different spatial distribution and a rethinking of the role of the headquarters in the general economy of the Foundation. His intervention was also expressed in the structural rehabilitation and functional and regulatory reuse of the buildings that make up the Querini Stampalia headquarters complex.
Mario Botta's intervention defines a profound renovation of the headquarters of the Querini Stampalia Foundation and starts with the acquisition of some buildings adjacent to the historic building. This expansion involves the reorganization of the entire complex and begins to take shape since the end of 1994 . The Ticino architect works on the new wing in continuity with the restoration by Carlo Scarpa. The references are sought after and explicit, in the essentiality of the lines, in the juxtaposition or contrast of materials and colors: stone and metal, black and white, gray and red. Botta moves the main access to Campo Santa Maria Formosa, where the new acquisitions appear, thus preserving the work of Carlo Scarpa from continuous adaptations to new needs and regulations. It also concentrates the services on the ground floor: atrium, ticket office, cloakroom, bookshop, cafeteria, increasing the vertical connections with a new staircase and new elevators. It is articulated all around a covered courtyard which becomes the true fulcrum of the entire complex. The project is completed with the 130 - seat auditorium equipped with sophisticated technologies and also equipped with an autonomous and independent entrance.
(© Fondazione Querini Stampalia Onlus)

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