Four Drawings
& Sites

Four Drawings

Construct four drawings from the following list of subjects over the next four weeks. Select topics that relate to your design propositions for Torcello.

Base each drawing by hand through direct observation, though it may be overlaid with collage, watercolor, or any other medium. Drawings may be completed over time.

Each drawing combines plan and section, axonometric (including axonometric section), or section perspective. Overlay multiple scales and drawing types in one composed sketchbook page.

Subjects

• Campo diagram. Choose a favorite campo and diagram the space in plan and section, indicating entrances and connections to water, locating wellhead and cistern intakes, micro-topography, materials, relationships to institutions, markets, restaurants and cafés, and activity over the course of the day.
• Canal / bridge diagram. Draw the intersection of a canal and a pedestrian pathway at a bridge, showing the conditions of landing at both sides, the nature of the water's edge, the materials of construction, and the accommodation of different ground levels.
• Spatial sequence / topology of public space. Construct a drawing showing a sequence of spaces that form a coherent experience, possibly including a small open space (campo or cortile), calle, sottoportego, canal, courtyard, and arcade. Include adjacent interior spaces if public or semi-public and related to the sequence.
• Palazzo / ca' typology. Diagram the relationship of androne, portego, water gate, façade, structure, stairs, and courtyard, working from one that is visible from the exterior or open for visit.
• Fondamenta / canal section. Diagram the construction of a canal edge with a parallel pedestrian way, either arcaded or open. Indicate construction materials and the way boats are accessed and connected to the fondamenta.
• Dynamic elements of the city. Diagram the way the city transforms between night and day or by season, including awnings, shutters, market stalls, windows, lighting, and cafés. Capture the different spatial conditions of the city at different times.
• Human scale. Zoom in on details, materials, joints, passages, or other conditions that reflect a direct reference to the human scale. Include hands, bodies, or other references that make the argument for the relationship to the human scale.
• Art in situ. Diagram the composition of a work of art in relation to its siting, showing the reciprocity between the work and the space it inhabits, including both the space and the space within the painting (or sculpture).
• Open choice. A subject of your choice related to readings and initial course discussions, including landscape and urban scales.

Scavenger Hunt

Visit five sites (or other sites of your choice — these are intended as suggestions) during your free time or on weekends and document your perceptions in your sketchbooks.

Venice

• Natural History Museum, Former Fondaco dei Turchi
• Ca' Pesaro Gallery of International Art
• Dogana Museum (Tadao Ando)
• Campo and Church of San Giacomo dell'Orio
• Church and Crypt of San Zaccaria
• Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
• Correr Museum
• Church of San Sebastiano
• Naval History Museum
• Orto Giardino del Santissimo Redentore
• IUAV University of Venice Cotonificio
• Ghetto Nuovo and Ghetto Vecchio, Synagogues
• Palazzo Grassi Theater (Tadao Ando)
• Museo di Palazzo Grimani (near Santa Maria Formosa)
• Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato, Murano

Padua (30 minutes by train)

• Scrovegni Chapel
• Orto Botanico
• Palazzo della Ragione and markets
• Anatomical theater, University of Padua
• Battistero di San Giovanni Battista
• Nearby: Giardino Valsanzibio (bus trip from Padua)

Trieste (approx. 2 hours by train)

• Waterfront and Canal Grande
• Foro Romano, Cathedral and Castle complex
• Roman theater
• Coffee shops
• Historic tram to Opicina
• Porto Vecchio

Ljubljana (train or bus)

Many works by Jože Plečnik, especially:

• Bridges
• Market
• Library
• Cemetery
• River infrastructure