Building on a Lagoon: The City and the Residential Architecture of Venice: course description
Document Actions
Paola Modesti, Venice International University
In his praise of the city of Venice written in 1493 the Venetian patrician Marin Sanudo confidently declared that the «houses, or indeed palaces, are built in our particular way». This statement can be extended from the typical layout of the palaces to many other features of the buildings and the city of Venice, whose singularity ultimately lies on their location on water, in the middle of a lagoon.
The city and the residential and domestic architecture of Venice offer an extraordinary opportunity to investigate the relationships between the physical environment and human creativity throughout the centuries: the almost impracticable conditions of the site proved to be the basis for a most artificial yet organic and “sustainable” city that has always enchanted for its peculiarity, richness, and beauty.
In this course we will examine the characteristics and the developments of the city, the palaces, and the houses of Venice in relation to environmental, functional and social issues from the city’s origins to our day. Attention will be paid to different aspects of the urban and architectural history, including building materials, the architects’ work, and the ways in which the city and its buildings have been perceived and described.
Course objectives
Besides providing a critical foundation in the history of the city and the architecture of Venice, and allowing insights into environmental issues and themes of sustainability, this course aims to enable students to practice in interpreting a variety of visual and textual material, to cross disciplinary boundaries in the humanities, and to explore the complexity of Venice and its cultural heritage.
Course structure, requirements
The course is divided into thematic units comprising introductory lectures by the professor, discussions based on students’ presentations on assigned site visits or readings, and further site visits led by small groups of students. There are no prerequisites but a serious commitment to participate in all the activities. The presence of students from different countries will allow comparative views, and students will be recommended to work in mixed groups.
The topic of the final research paper shall be decided in consultation with the professor and presented in class by the mid-term break.
The city and the residential and domestic architecture of Venice offer an extraordinary opportunity to investigate the relationships between the physical environment and human creativity throughout the centuries: the almost impracticable conditions of the site proved to be the basis for a most artificial yet organic and “sustainable” city that has always enchanted for its peculiarity, richness, and beauty.
With the end of the Republic the future of Venice was entrusted to the city’s modernization and “normalization”, despite or even against Venice’s environmental and building peculiarities. After the Second World War the city aroused new attention. Scholarly investigations on the urban morphology and the “vernacular architecture” of Venice were carried out. Venice represented a model for the solution of a wide range or architectural and urban problems for an influential master of Modern architecture such as Le Corbusier, and it was eventually indicated as the “City of the new Modernity” by the architect Vittorio Gregotti. Yet “the lesson of Venice” seems to be difficult to follow.
In this course we will examine the characteristics and the developments of the city, the palaces, and the houses of Venice in relation to environmental, functional and social issues from the city’s origins to our day. Attention will be paid to different aspects of the urban and architectural history, including building materials, the architects’ work, and the ways in which the city and its buildings have been perceived and described.
Course objectives
Besides providing a critical foundation in the history of the city and the architecture of Venice, and allowing insights into environmental issues and themes of sustainability, this course aims to enable students to practice in interpreting a variety of visual and textual material, to cross disciplinary boundaries in the humanities, and to explore the complexity of Venice and its cultural heritage.
Course structure, requirements
The course is divided into thematic units comprising introductory lectures by the professor, discussions based on students’ presentations on assigned site visits or readings, and further site visits led by small groups of students. There are no prerequisites but a serious commitment to participate in all the activities. The presence of students from different countries will allow comparative views, and students will be recommended to work in mixed groups.
The topic of the final research paper shall be decided in consultation with the professor and presented in class by the mid-term break.
