Architecture in Conversion and the Work of Carlo Scarpa

The work of Modernist architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978) is exemplary of an in-between practice, which is neither architecture nor conservation, but rather, architecture in conversion, dependent upon time, weather, and tempo. This book discusses the notion of architecture in conversion, revealing it to be radically different from current conservation practices, and to entail more than a change of use. Scarpa’s work represents ‘a radical turn in how we see or understand something’.

The significance of time, weather and tempo within Scarpa’s work, as well as the influences of artists such as Man Ray and Emilio Vedova and composer Luigi Nono, are revealed through a close analysis of Scarpa’s drawings and details from key buildings and their histories of multiple authorship. The book examines drawing as central to Scarpa’s practice: in lieu of creating physical models, his muti-directional drawings foreshadow the orbital movements of digital modeling techniques.

Based on discussions with many of his collaborators, the book highlights Scarpa’s collaborative approach, as well as the importance of all senses in his architecture. The book concludes by introducing the notion of ‘unfinished architecture’, and by discussing various contemporary architects’ projects which follow Scarpa’s approach to conversion of buildings.

Federica Goffi is a Professor of Architecture at the ASAU, Carleton University. She is the author of Time Matter[s]: Invention and Re-imagination in Built Conservation: The Unfinished Drawing and Building of St. Peter’s in the Vatican (Ashgate, 2013) and has edited several other books. She is a licensed architect in Italy.

Prakash Patel is an American architectural photographer and architect. His work has been published in architectural journals and design media worldwide.