Carlo Scarpa: Architecture, abstraction and museology

Abstract

The last year that Carlo Scarpa taught at the IUAV, he proposed a civic museum as the topic of the course, in particular in the old Santa Caterina Convent in Treviso, which is currently the headquarters of the archive of the architect. The issue of the museology was developed during the lessons given at the University and dealt with several of his most recognised projects, in order to expose the guidelines of his museology approach. The message he conveyed in his classes did not describe precise details as much as acting strategies. But nevertheless, the approach to the work of Carlo Scarpa reveals a scale of museum detail that has never been experienced before. This care for the solutions of encounters and for the suitability of expositions constitutes a true contribution to the history of architecture and is, therefore, a model of the contemporary museology theory. The interest of the interventions of Scarpa, lies in the abstraction and refinement, both of his exhibition spaces and of the support elements of the works to be exhibited. This allows on occasions to be recreated in nuances that enrich the pieces with a delicacy that we could almost describe as a work of goldsmithing.