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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 13 December 2008 12:15 |
The history of architecture in Venice cannot be divorced from the physical and geo¬graphical constraints which, through the ages. the Venetians have had to overcome with mastery and ingenuity.
Houses on piles
The city is not built on water, but in the water, resting as it does on deep foundations sunk into the many sand banks which lie across the lagoon, irre¬spective of whether theyare above or below the tidal waters.
In either case, great larch or oak wood pall are driven deep through the sand, mud or silt, and therefore unstable lagoon floor, to the bed rock of hard clay. These 2-4 metre (6ft 6in-13ft) piles are organised in concentric circles or spirals starting from the outer perimeter of the building to be constructed, at intervals of 60-80cm (24-31in). In this way the piles provide a base onto which a raft-like platform (zattera) of horizontal beams (zatterone) may be secured. To reinforce this wooden floor, it is lined with blocks of Istrian stone that provide a solid course of the brick and mortar on which to build.
The number of piles used is considerable: 1, 106, 657 for the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, and 10,000 for the Rialto Bridge!
Building materials
No useful building stone may be quarried locally so everything must be imported.
Most of the timber is brought from the Alps (Cadore forests) and the Balkans. It is used not only for the foundation piles, but also for the frames and ceilings of the houses. Occasionally it is incorporated into masonry walls not so much as reinforce¬ment but rather as 'shock absorbers', thereby catering for possible movement in the subsoil. Marble, used to face facades, is principally sourced from the Euganei Hills (south of Padua) or from Greece. Istria limestone, hard, white and marble-like, has the added advantage of being resistant to salt-erosion: it is therefore used extensively in Venice for bridge copings and to face palazzi, churches, bell-towers, etc. Only brick is made on site from local clay: it was commonly used in Gothic times, especially in I Fran and Santa Maria Formosa quarters. and is responsible for lending to Venice its wondrous pinkish hue.
Originality of Venetian architecture
All the houses, palaces and churches that were erected by the Serenissima through the ages survive on these reinforced, drained, dried and consolidated areas reclaimed from the lagoon. It is almost as if the early Vene¬tians made a pact with the lagoon that they would live with it rather than view it as a problem to be reckoned with. And so from the water rise mists and fogs that swirl and fade again to confer a thousand different moods on the urban landscape: one moment the millpond mirrors a perfect reflection and in another the choppy. churlish surface dissolves the shimmering profile according to whim. The lagoon intensifies the ethereal sunlight to sparkle and glitter and lend a festive air to the place. but it may also invade the landscape with the spirit of melancholy. Water consorts with the changing light and density of the air, to exaggerate or deform the delicate stone lacework, the crenellated roof ornaments, the many recesses, loggias and arcades. But poetic descriptions of atmosphere are an insubstantial preoccupation by comparison to the physical problem posed by the lagoon: it is rather the remoteness of mainland resources and the instabil¬ity of the subsoil that preoccupy the Venetian authorities.
Projects on a moderate scale
Initially, it was the cost and transport of building materi¬als that dictated a patron's choice and constrained an architect's design of private palace or church. Until the advent of the 16C, local brick was the obvious if least illustrious raw material available and then the economic consideration was in part attenuated by improved means of reliable transport.
Low lying construction
A second major element in the equation was the risk of subsi¬dence. To reduce this threat, houses were erected to no more than two or three storeys high, except in the Ghetto where squat buildings had low ceilings so that the total weight was proportionally less. A constant reminder of instability was the angle at which certain palaces (Palazzo Dario) and bell-towers (Santo Stefano, San Barnaba) inclined, and the regularity with which the quays (Riva degli Schiavoni) and St Mark's Square flooded. By determination, patience and perseverance in an unpredictable envi¬ronment, strengthened by a spirit of enterprise and ambitious business acumen, the Venetians learnt to construct and embellish a magnificent city. Yet despite everything that has been accomplished and all the expertise acquired, the unpropitious site for this wonderful city means that it will forever be at the mercy of natural forces: the corrosive action of salt and water, and the instability of the lagoon floor.
The campo
A square provides a point at which all roads, streets and alleys converge: it is at the very heart of community life where housewives chat and hang out their washing, where children play in the open. It is not to be confused with the torte, a closed public courtyard with a single entrance or with the cortile, a private courtyard hidden within a patrician townhouse.
The campo, sometimes punctuated with a few trees, is encircled by fine patrician houses, Gothic or Renaissance in style and blessed with its own church. At its centre, a well might occupy a choice spot. Given that the town was built on salty water and therefore had no natural drinking-water supply, rain water had to be collected, puri¬fied and stored in cisterns that were excavated to a depth of 5-6m (16-20ft). The brick-lined tank collected water through several apertures in the campo floor, filtering it through fine river sand. Often the well-head or vera da pozzo, would have been paid for by a patron and would therefore have been sculpted as a veritable work of art.
Domestic architecture
Throughout Venice, with the exception of the Grand Canal, palaces rub shoulders with modest houses. Simply built in pink brick or stone, most are low in height; a few retain their open-work external staircase, and 'double' front entrances: one on the street and one onto the canal with its "water porch". The inner courtyard is modelled on the Roman atrium shaded in summer and protected from the wind in winter. On the first floor or piano nobile, a portego runs perpendicular to the main front, from the street, across the internal cortile, through the entire width therefore of the house to open out onto a loggia on the canal side.
The altana is a veranda or terrace built on the tiled roof between the typical Venetian high funnel-shaped chimneys known as fumaioli, and immortalised in Carpaccio's paintings. Forever short of space, small extensions sometimes extrude from the roof to gain a little more living accommodation.
Flat facades are relieved with flower-decked balconies, coats of arms, small reliefs, sculpted cornices and hood mouldings... Down the side walls, houses with barbacani have corbelled projections to support the timber beams of upper floors (Calle del Paradiso).
As at roof level, the lack of space at ground level means that there are very few gar¬dens in Venice, and those that do exist are small, sometimes consisting of a single tree or a few flower tubs, often jealously guarded from the public eye behind high walls. |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 13 December 2008 12:19 |
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