35 of the world’s most celebrated architects and intellectuals of the field are revealing why they obsess over Venice in historian Richard Goy’s new book Dream of Venice Architecture. Renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, for example, shares his reasons why working on the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana forever altered his attitude towards architecture. “Though the Japanese culture has developed the habit of repeating ‘scrap and build’ philosophies based upon economic rationality, I believe that architecture should be essentially rooted in society and be immersed in a lapse of time,” reveals Ando. “This is exactly what I learned in Venice.”
Valeriano Pastor, a professor of architecture at the University of Venice, highlights the timeless importance of the city’s most beloved architect of all: Carlo Scarpa. Among his many references to Scarpa’s remarkable designs throughout the city, Pastor praises Scarpa’s work on the Palazzo Querini-Stampalia, wherein Scarpa added stone-lined canals around the footprint of the palazzo’s ground floor which allow the rising and lowering waters to breathe in and out, serving as a reminder of the city’s connection to the sea. Pastor writes, “[Scarpa is] exalting the poetry inherent in the natural phenomenon while befriending its aggressive action. It is a metonymic model — wonderful in itself — of the Venetian Lagoon system.” For more information on Richard Goy’s Dream of Venice Architecture you can find it on Amazon.
If you read Goy’s book and plan on heading to Venice to connect with your favorite architects’ personal obsessions in the city, you might want to consider a stay at the magnificent Aman Canal Grande Hotel located inside the Palazzo Papadopoli. Yatzer writes, “Comfortable and spacious, each room is different with its own distinctive features: high ceilings, frescoes, wood panelling and fireplaces; all add that special touch that makes you think that this could actually be a home and not a hotel.” You can read more and see all the photos by CLICKING HERE (the third photo below shows the hotel’s stunning front facade), then book your own stay at the Aman Canal Grande Hotel by visiting AMAN.com.
And if you get your fill of the city’s main island, and are hungry for a more outside-the-box experience, there might be a way for you to make it over to Poveglia Island — the abandoned island nearby which is considered to be one of the most haunted locations in the entire world. The crew of Ghost Adventures paid their own visit, and judging by what happened to them in the video below, they probably wish they had just stayed put in the comfort of their own hotel. You can see some extraordinary photos of Poveglia Island’s abandoned insane asylum by CLICKING HERE. (First two photos below courtesy of Riccardo de Cal/Bella Figura Publications; subsequent photos of the Aman Canal Grande Hotel © Aman Canal Grande Hotel, Venice, Aman Resorts)
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