Scarpa and Time
Time is one of the most subtle and pervasive elements in Carlo Scarpa's work. Time is not explicitly evoked in Scarpa's drawings or writings. However, it is present everywhere in his projects: in his way of working on the historical building, in the care with which he combines different materials, in the attention to the aging of the surfaces, and in the slow measure of the use of spaces.
Scarpa does not conceive architecture as an isolated gesture in the present. Each of his projects is a dialogue between eras, a controlled stratification in which the past is never denied, but related to the present. For him, the architectural intervention is a writing that overlaps without erasing. The material - stone, glass, wood, bronze - is also chosen for its ability to mark time, to tell it.
In the restoration of the Castelvecchio Museum, Scarpa lays bare the different construction phases of the castle, highlights the overlaps, uses modern materials to distinguish the new from the old, creating continuity without confusion. Also in the Querini Stampalia Foundation, his intervention fits between the textures of the existing building with lightness and precision, like a conscious addition that respects the voice of the past.
Time is also present in the exhibition. Scarpa builds spaces that invite you to slow down, observe, and linger. Each museum itinerary is conceived as a journey, not only in space but also in time. The light changes during the day, the materials absorb history, and wear becomes part of the project. His environments are never static, but predisposed to transform over time, without losing their identity.
There is an almost Japanese conception of time in Scarpa: time as a condition for beauty, as a process, as depth. It is no coincidence that he was fascinated by the art and architecture of Japan, and that many of his works – such as the Querini garden or the wooden coverings –recall the aesthetics of wabi-sabi, in which time is not the enemy of form, but its ally.
His architecture, therefore, is not only made to last, but to coexist with time. Not fixed, but alive. Not eternal, but authentic.
