Carlo Scarpa Venice – Get lost and find his work...

Venice is a labyrinth. Getting lost in this city is my first bit of advise to any visitor. I have been saying that since I arrived and realized how absolutely brilliant it is to spend the day bobbing and weaving about the city as she offers up endless surprises. Dead ends are walking up to the edge of an unexpected rio (waterway), turning around and discovering a spiraling staircase. Rome is layers. Venice is twists and turns. No one knew that better than the great Venetian designer, Carlo Scarpa.

Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978) is La Serenissima's most famous modern designer. Many of his works evoke the sensation of water lapping over edges. Like the innovative minds that conceived this man made floating habitat, Scarpa embraced the water…its ebb and flow… in his architecture and interiors.

I challenge you to consider the exploration of Venice architecturally. I challenge you to find the works of Carlo Scarpa scattered throughout the Veneto region.

Start by visiting the entrance of the University of Architecture, IUAV in Santa Croce. In this spot you will enjoy the juxtaposition of movement and the invitation to pause. Here, in Italy's most renowned design school, Scarpa taught and had his own studio in the 1960's. Laying the buildings original door on the ground and building ascending steps around it, a place of reflection was created.

Walk through Scarpa's concrete, sharp angled, linear entrance and discover the past, present and future of design.