ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a close reading of drawing 15154/58 recto, one of many produced by Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978) for the Brion Memorial in San Vito d’Altivole, Italy. In this drawing, Scarpa utilizes graphite and crayon to develop the design for the Pavilion on the Water. The resulting lines often hide more than they show, namely the embodied experience of the structure through time. I argue that the vital processes of designing, building and dwelling are embedded in the paper surface. The human figures with pencil-thin legs and encircled eyes, a sketch in the marginalia or the absence of a border offer the clues to interpreting Scarpa’s architectural drawings. When taken in isolation, the meaning of these representations is elusive. Yet, when they are cross-referenced with the other drawings for the pavilion and compared with direct experience of the space itself, these elements begin to form a map of Scarpa’s intentions.
