AA - Scarpa in Magna Graecia (Frascari)
AA - Scarpa in Magna Graecia (Frascari)
AA - Scarpa in Magna Graecia (Frascari)
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CARLO
THE
SCARPA
IN MAGNA
ABATELLIS
PALACE
Marco
Carlo Scarpa
Idon't
declared that 'inPalermo I have seen the bestmuseum design that I have
ever come across in allmy life.The Abatellis Palace is a
masterpiece.'
Scarpa was a twentieth-centurymaster of fragmentaryarchitecture,or
architetturadi spoglio (architecture of spoils). This isnot an architecture
of prefabricated ruins or of 'instant history'. It is an architecturewhich
Palazzo
AA FILES 9
GRAECIA
IN PALERMO
Frascari
A batellis: Entrance
fagade
and
tower.
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ships between the artefacts and their settings along the axis of circu?
lation, so that the story of Sicilian culture unfolds before the visitor.
This path hinges on the Trionfo dellaMorte, a huge painting located in
the apse of the chapel thatwas added to thepalace. It is seen twice during
the visit, first from the ground floor, then, from a new, dynamic
perspective, from a first-floor loggia thatprotrudes into the chapel. In
thisdevice of showing an object fromdifferentpoints of view there is, in
nuce, Scarpa's concept of the virtual architectural joint,which he was to
exploit fullya decade later inhis placement of the statue ofCangrande in
the threshold between rooms 226 and 227 of theGrande Albergo delle
Palme. (Wagner also wrote much of Parsifal here, and Scarpa selected it
on
as his residence while working out a 'fast-track*
design for thework
Abatellis Palace.) By considering in parallel theworks of Scarpa and
Roussel, it ispossible to ascertain the chiastic structure and the artistic
nature of the process of signification in fragmentary architecture. This
is a process based on the Janus-like role of technology in theproduction
of architecture, that is,of factual signification. Ifwe divide theword
place apart'. The former explains RoussePs theory of the techneof logos
whereas the latter is amasterpiece of a surrealistic logos of techne.
Scarpa's use of technology,which consists in the surrealmanipulation
of the real,was at its best in his museum designs. The design of any
museum is ruled by the nature of both the building and the collections.
The role of the architect is to interweave these elements in ameaningful
and memorable way, encouraging perceptions and intuitions of the
story told by the dialogue between the objects and the rooms inwhich
they are located. Technology is therefore a powerful device which, by
both constructing and construing it,reveals the architectural text.
Abatellis Palace is an example of architectural 'picture-writing',which
isbased on a very simple principle: the designation of things and objects,
? the
using the medium of other things or objects
quintessence of
museums and monuments, or of any structuredealing with memory. It
contains a visual transcription of the invisible processes of history and
culture. The character and effectof Scarpa's architecture reside in his
solution to the paradox of comprehending the invisible through the
visible.
The fragmentscollected inAbatellis Palace repeat and interweave tales
in the same way that the objects collected byMartial Cantarel on his
estate, Locus Solus, repeat and interweave the surreal tales devised by
Roussel. The narrative framework of the novel Locus Solus isbased on a
visit by a group of people to view the ingenious marvels on an estate at
Montmorency, on the outskirts of Paris, which is owned byMartial
Cantarel, a very rich scientist,magician and inventor.The 'game' in the
novel is the restoration of things from the past ? a reintegratio in
?
pristinum
using a sophisticated form of classical technology, a tech?
to thatof theGreeks and Romans, who knew thepoten?
similar
nology
tial of steam formaking meaningful toys but were not interested in
labour-saving devices such as the steam engine. It is a technology of
approximation rather than precision, a technology that enriches the
perception of reality, thatdeals with the 'play' between objects and the
parts of a construction rather than limiting the design by accepting the
tolerance among the parts. Itsmeaning and power reside in the surreal?
istic relationship that is set up among materials, which indicates and
selects possible realities. In Cantarel's estate iron gates have golden
hinges, and in theAbatellis Palace the glass doors have leather handles;
these are pristine and allotropic realities.
The descriptions of themarvels inLocus Solus are couched in a kind of
theatrical framework, and each scene is enrichedwith many details that
at first seem unnecessary and unintelligible but by the end of the nar?
rative have resulted in the fundamental retelling and re-enactment of the
tale. The same is true of the design of theAbatellis Palace. The soph?
isticated details devised by Scarpa are not merely unnecessary decor?
ation; they are fundamental to the stories revealed within the rooms of
the palace.
In 'Comment j'ai ecrit certains de mes livres'Roussel describes the for?
mal and cosmetic devices he used inhis literarycompositions. They are
based on a chiastic semantic structurewhich determines the relationship
4
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AA FILES 9
Ground Floor
*
^?^s^'1'
^^^^^
??
* "^j^j
J
^^^^^^
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^^^K^v
l^^^^BH
Room I
^
^^^^
5
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Ground Floor
Room III
6
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Ground Floor
Room IV
* ^
^^^^^
II r
^^^^^^^^^^^^^HhIh
nHil
.11^^
^^^^^^H
^-^i^
i^H
fl^^H
7
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FirstFloor
^^^^^
l^^^fi
Room VII
mi
ffl
^tliiti J?jJMBM|^^_h-ip^M
oil
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^^^^^^^^^
?
^^^^^^^
Scarpa 'ssketches
oftheplans ofthetwo
floors ofAbatellisPalace.
References
Delogu, Raffaello, La Galleria Nazionale delta Sicilia (Rome, 1977).
Dal Co, Francesco, and Giuseppe Mazzariol, Carlo Scarpa: Opera Completa (Milan, 1984).
'L'opera di Carlo Scarpa inPalazzo Abatellis a Palermo', Domus, 388 (1962), pp. 17-34.
Roussel, Raymond,
'Comment
AA FILES 9
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