F1105 Architectural and Urban Heritage. Transforming Venice after the collapse of the Republic
Introduction to the topics
1797: with the collapse of the Republic, Venice fell down on a condition of crisis and frustration. Hitherto, Venice had been not only a great merchants hub and a capital city, but also a political model and a literary myth. In such a context, architecture had played a great role in shaping an idea of Venice associated to models and myths.
After the political collapse, however, a second idea of Venice was slowly emerging due to the new sensitiveness generated by Romanticism. Lord Byron, Ruskin and other foreign travellers strongly contributed to enhance a new suite of myths associated to the notion of despair and death. Architecture and arts followed this new trend, making some suitable features come up.
In the second part of the XIX.th century, especially after the incorporation with the Italian Kingdom (1866), the Venetian ruling class reacted against the condition of crisis. In particular after the opening of the Suez Canal (1869), railroads links, harbour facilities, new bridges and new thoroughfares were created in order to insert the city into the commercial and maritime networks. Such a wave of transformation did not affect the idea of Venice still associated to Romantic myths, but it brought into existence -even if not into evidence- a real process of transformation, renewal and enlargement.
Objectives and contents
Together with a series of detailed description, this course aims at providing a critical introduction to the architectural and urban features of contemporary Venice, specifically considering how architecture has contributed in the recent past to create a particular idea of the city.
In this framework comes the question of new buildings to be inserted into the pre-existing structure. Such a potentially dangerous impact has to be smoothed, however, by the use of pieces taken from traditional languages in particular from Byzantine, late Gothic and early Renaissance. A great effort was done at that time in order to render and classify the \"stones of Venice\", namely ordinary forms and types of Byzantine and Gothic architecture, as implied in the well-known work of John Ruskin.
Facing the necessary infill of the new, no architectural split has to be perceived at the different scales even if some fairly large programmes of renewal were brought about especially after 1866. At that time, new building themes had to be tackled –such as harbour docks, factories, iron bridges, railroad terminal- largely exceeding the traditional field of civil and religious subjects. Achieving a possible coexistence between the new and the old is a goal to be attained until today, as shown in a suite of recent projects.
Starting from a suite of highlights and from a number of case studies, we want students to get acquainted with the guidelines concerning cultural, historic and artistic heritage related to contemporary times from XIX.th to XX.th century.
Through the course the students will:
- become familiar with the main pieces of architecture, in particular with those which are a constituent part of the urban context;
- be provided with an overview of issues and personalities that have marked the history of architecture in modern and contemporary times. In particular, evidence will be given the urban dimension;
- be provided with the tools of critical reading in order to trace the lineaments of a story that comes from the end of the Serenissima republic to the twentieth century.
Organisation and supervision
The course is organized around four modules. Each module has a special focus on some case study. Guido Zucconi will introduce and supervise the course. Leo Schubert, Ines Tolic will be charged with the didactical modules. In order to enhance a direct knowledge of the city and its architectural masterpieces, we shall organize some field trips related to the main case studies.
Evaluation
Readings