Oz

Volume 13 Article 10

1-1-1991

A Deciphering of a Wonderful Cipher: Eleven in the architecture of Carlo Scarpa

Marco Frascari

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Recommended Citation Frascari, Marco (1991) "A Deciphering of a Wonderful Cipher: Eleven in the architecture of Carlo Scarpa," Oz: Vol. 13. https://doi.org/10.4148/2378-5853.1222

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Oz by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Deciphering of a Wonderful Cipher: Eleven in the architecture of Carlo Scarpa

Marco Frascari

The Beginning Trace: Fourth Trace: Roman people that it was necessary to but also built cosmological resonances. I am a 13. Anton Francesco Doni was an In proposing a search for an architecture protect the shield by making 11 other Traces of this tradition are still present in 18, Antonio Abbondi, called the which produces thauma-vulgarly called equal to it so whoever tried to steal the current practice. Many apothegms in the Scarpagnino, was a 14, called the 11. 1 wonder-my aim is to suggest an ap­ sacred object could not distinguish it architectural project. One recently re­ proach to the study of the theories of from the other eleven. A bronze-smith vived by formalistic trends is based on the Second Trace: architecture from a humanistic and named Mamurius Veturius was the only number three: "a perfect facade or Weak thinking is a procedure which is playful point if view. Paraphrasing a well one to accept the challenge. He made building has three parts, a base, a middle neither aggressive nor domineering. known passage in Aristotle's Poetics (9,2) replicas which were so perfect that no­ and a top." Another apothegm, by Carlo Grounded in a convalescent ontology, it is possible to say that architectural his­ body, not even the king himself, could Scarpa whose architecture will play a key weak thinking is rather gentle and tan­ torians tell us what may have happened distinguish the orginal from the assimi­ role in this discussion of the semiotics of gential (Vattimo 1984, 1988, 1990). while the architects tell us what will come lated copies. 2 number in architecture, states that This is a convincing practice for centering to be. This architectural foreteling is an "paired columns are better than one." admiration father than developing pre­ act of conception, an understanding Half Traces: These apothegms are semiotically similar cise scientific eccentricity. Weak thinking based on interpretative procedures, a se­ In Architecture, it is true that One and to Pythagorean acusmata, i.e. prescribing is a militant but discreet philosophy which rious play, which analyzes writings, One equal two, but it is also true that A statements. These precepts set the inter­ has recently been translated into the realm of drawings and buildings under the sign of Pair Of Ones Makes An Eleven. action between a pragmatic framework architecture on the pages of some Italian wonder. Wonder stimulates a person to and the semantic dimension through a architectural magazines, Casabella, Lotus inquiry. It intensifies when the inquiry In current architectural theory and de­ syntactic prescription. In other words, and the reborn Ottagono (De Sola Morales succeeds and the enigmatic becomes in­ sign, numbers are theoretically unbiased numbers, properly considered, become 1989, Gregotti 1989, Vattimo 1988). Weak telligible in a vivid image of conception. mathematical signs. They are instru­ bearers of meaning in a wonderfully thinking, a process ofdiscreet thinking, will In architecture, this topical thinking is a mental representations, used for graphic discreet architecture. lead us to a future of wonderfully discreet constructive curiosity which observes tec­ and constructive likeness, and as syntac­ architecture. tonic events and marvels at them. Archi­ tical expressions which determine math­ As continuous projection of signs, an tectural theory, then, concerns itself with ematical associations among the architectural project is not based an a Third Trace: demonstrative knowledge. building's parts. They do not carry se­ specific building, but is the result of an The discrete constructions of Carlo mantic value in themselves and meaning uniterrupted act of design based on a Scarpa are wonderful pieces of discreet Fifrh Trace: is achieved only through analogic or continual search for the human measure architecture. Discretion is a synthetic N urneric essences and semblances are symbolic references. A number is both in the past and in the future con­ activity of the intellect. Proceeding from cannonical representations in architec­ meaningles unless it is related to a unit of structed worlds. This continous projec­ the knowlegde of what architecture is, ture which allow an assimlation between dimension, in which it becomes a mea­ tion of signs, an act of architectural divi­ discretion sets out the means by which the art of constructing well and the art of sure or it is related to building elements in nation, an infinite semiosis, is realized the works of wonderful architecture are living well. Simulation has its origin in which it can represent of Trinities, through the proper use of numbers as a realized. The excercise of discretion is the Greek mimesis, whereas assimilation T etramorphes or other referential figures. meaningful embodiment of the human thus a synthetic activity reversing the url stems from the Roman opus. As­ measure in the body of the building. Cartesian analytical procedure of ab­ similation has its beginning in the Ars A semiotic tradition, now alien to us, Semiosis is the process by which mean­ straction. Discreet architecture is a union Mamurialis. During the eighth year of endowed the use of numbers in archi­ ings are attached to signs. Symbols, in­ of theory and practice, a construction of the kingdom of Numa Pompilius, a sa­ tecture with mystical, allegorical, and dexes, and icons are a tripartite configu­ the discrete parts resulting from the ap­ cred bronze shield fell from the sky. This above all metasphoric significations. The ration used to classifY signs.3 An index is plication of imagination to the reality of shield was a presnt from the gods to save presence of numbers in architectural arti­ a sign related by contiguity, e.g. smoke is 36 the art of building. the city from a plague. The King told the facts not only had an instrumental aspect an indexical sign of fire. An icon is a sign related by similarity, e.g. a portrait is an toric forms, the symbolic nature of the Leone Battista Alberti, in his treatise, in­ the Tao, but it is not taken in the quan­ iconic sign of the portrayed person. A number signs dominates the indexical dicates that to achieve congruency or titative sense of ten plus one; it signifies symbol is a sign related by convention, and iconic dimensions, the real tectonic harmony in any architectural project it is the unity of the decade in its wholeness e.g. a gilded colwnn in the loggia of the extent and presence of numbers, forcing necessary to deal with three active factors: (Franz, 1974:65 & 147). Eleven appears Ducal Palace of Venice marks the arch them to be minor presences in the process numbering (numeratio), dimensioning as a factor, and a multiple, though not by where the Doge used to appear to deliver of signification. (/initio), locating (collncatio). Numeratiois itself, in the Imperial system of measur­ 1 his speeches to the Venectian people. the proper selection of a process of ing: 5 I 2 yards are one road, pole or perch, To enlarge and enrich the semiosis of numbering to use in building. Alberti 4 perches make 22 yards which are a The traditional interpretation of numbers numbers in architectural design, it is nec­ indicates that a good number is forty, chain, 220 yards a furlong, and 1750 distinguishes three currents in the genera­ essary to understand their tectonic depen­ because "a patient recovers at the end of [11x160] yards makes a mile (Wells, tion of meaning through the use of the dency. Numbers are one of the most forty days." In this case as in many other 1986:82). Eleven is the fifth number in numerical lore, viz. the cosmological, the important tools used by architects, numerical selections, the exegesis of the Lucas sequence: 1 3 4 7 11 18 29 biblical and the magical numbers {Butler builders, and inhabitants during the daily Alberti's text reveals the anthropomor­ ... (Wells,1986:83). In architecture, the 1970: xi). First, the Greek tradition construction and construing of architec­ phic origin of numbers. Rene Thorn use of eleven is very spare, but its peculiar which is based on a geometrical manipu­ tural artifacts. Reusing the above men­ (1974:77) points out, "number as sign nature allows a deep analysis of the use of lation . of numbers, generated a cosmo­ tioned semiotic triadic model of index, grows out of living things." This is a numberical analogies. The use of eleven is logical understanding of the music of the icon, and symbol, three types of significa­ discreet chiasm between the parts of the a departure from tradition, but it is also spheres (Butler 1970: 1-21). Second, the tion can be recognized in the usage of body which are counted and the parts of the keeping of a tradition. In one lecture, tradition ofbiblical exegesis searched for a numbers and numerals in architecture. the body which are named. It is a rhetori­ Scarpa pointed out that in his designs, he harmonic structure of verbal resonances The signification is indexical when the cal procedure which uses body parts as used numeric manipulation based on the within a paramount text (Butler 1970: number of building elements help to set a tectonic locatives (Ifrah 1987:" 11-21). digit and numeral eleven. 22-30). Third, the tradition of magical relationship between the denotation and The signification is symbolic when the sciences, such as Numerology or connotation in any architectural space, number of the tectonic elements is con­ I need a certain kind of light and I N omadia, presented the understanding of i.e. paired columns become spatial hinges ventionally related to other cultural usage worked everything on a grid of 5.5 numbers as essences of the occult rela­ indicating entry on a facade, or are used as of the number. Twelve columns might centimeters. This motifseems nothing tionships existing between microcosm a structural markers for generating a di­ crudely symbolize the twelve months, the special but it is actually rich in expres­ and macrocosm (Butler 1970: 31-46). rection in a room. A signification is iconic twelve wdiac signs, or the twelve apostles. sive scope and movement.. I measured These three currents were unified by Re­ when the numerals of a body of construc­ everythiing with the number 11 and naissance thinkers in a comprehensive tion represent the numbers associated In tectonics, numbers must be considered 5.5 Since everything was based on view of the reality of things. Numbers with the human body. This process uses identical with things (Nicholas of Dusa multiplication, everything fits and the became form of forms, exemplary ciphers corporeal tropes as key images for figuring 1989:75), since they are both space and measurement turns out right. Someone of all numerable things, both visible and out the chiastic nature of architecture. time bound. In this sense this new sernio­ will object that the measurement turns invisible, mortal and immortal, corporeal Just as we think architecture with our sis in architecture is very close to the out right. Someone will object that the and ethereal. Numbers evolved as angular bodies, we think our bodies through ar­ Pythagorean figuring out of numbers measurement will end up right even on angels; they became the messengers of the chitecture. The rhetoric of this larter (Brukert 1962:31) or to Wittgenstein's a grid of1 centimeter- but it's not true Semiotica Harmonia generated by the sentence displays a monstrous and curios explanation of the common language ma­ because 50 multiplied by 2 is 100, construing and constructing of human, chiasm, a hiatus, i.e. a mutual ascription nipulation of digits. The resulting archi­ while 55 by 2 is 110, and ifyou add cosmological and theological ends. For of ciphers and figures between the human tecture is then a "theoretical" discipline another 55 it makes 165, not 150, and instance, Doni (1981: 116) zero as an snd architectural bodies. This bodily based on auctoritas or the authority of the ifyou diJuble that you get 220 and then hermaphrodite figure which, after being hiatus has been evident in the realm of the architect's understanding of numbers. 330, 440. In this way you can divide coupled with the other nine figures (1 2 3 constructed world since builders used Auctoritas is achieved by the implemen­ up the parts andyou 'II never have 150 4 56 7 8 9), generated nine decades. The both their own bodies and the bodies of tation of numerical demonstrations in but 154. sum of these nine decades is 450, a perfect their sacrificial victims for inscribing their construction. The theory of architecture (Scarpa 1986) number since it is composed of a square, constructions with inferential meanings. is established through demonstrations, the medium and a hermaphrodite. This The representation of architecture in and Scarpa's authoritative use of eleven is The understanding of the peculiarity of perfection could be represented in a city bodies and ofbodies in architecture began such a demonstration. In a discussion of the usage of eleven in Scarpa's architec­ of ten thousand houses, showing the when the organization of built bodies was the use of eleven in architectural semiosis, ture must begin with consideration of proper proportions. 4 Architecture was the approached through a poetic of the laby­ as I already mentioned, Scarpa's opus is two Byzantine occurences. On one hand, most powerful manifestation of this tri­ rinthine quality of the numerals of the fundamental. there is the bizarre fact that a total of partite congruity of ends; nevertheless, human body. This tradition suggested eleven letters composes the name and the these traditional interpretations restrict canons for the determination of measures Eleven is both an intriguing numeral and family name of the Venetian architect, architectural numerology to a very lim­ and proportions and for the imagery to be a charming number which demonstrates C1a2r314o5 S6c7a8r9p10a11. On the ited understanding of the semiosis of used during the design and construction the semiotic nature of human construc­ other hand, in the Italian tradition of numbers. If they are revived in their his- of buildings. tions. In China eleven is the number of construction, the thickness of a standard 37 hollow tile partition wall is approximatly churches. It illustrates an interesting at­ 11 em, although the nominal dimension tempt to introduce into a church front is 10 em ( 9 em of the tile and 112 em of new building elements which did not plaster on both sides ) because in the belong to traditional ecclesiastic designs. reality of construction, tiles are never as­ Many of the construction elements used sembled following a perfect plum-line by Scarpagnino were borrowed from the and the reoccurring mistake is corrected secualur tradition of Venetian palace fa­ in the thickness of the plaster, thus cades.7 One anomalous feature is the bringing the total width of the partition presence of paired columns on a single wall closer to the real dimension of 11 em. projecting pedestal at the edges of the facade. Paired columns had been used in A stroll in Venice is probably the best way other Venetian constructions such as San to understand the presence of number in Zaccaria and Palazw V endramin-Calergi, architecture. Walking from the church of but in San Sebastiano the effect seem very San Barnaba-where a magnificent eccentric. The upper-story columns are Antonio Abbondi, the Scarpagnino. Carlo Scarpa. Drawingofrear elevation ofthe BancaPopolnre Corinthian order is celebrated by the in­ shorter than the one below, and to make Facade ofSan Sebastino, Venice. Drawing of rear elevation ofBanca Popolare di Verona terlocking of three rows of columns on the two stories the same height, the upper the corners of beautifully proportioned columns were raised on pedestals. The NeoPalladian facade, 5 to the church of reason for this peculiarity is that the col­ the Angelo Raffaele, a magnificent ba­ umns predated the design and were used roque elevation with rigorous numerical because they were available. The result is expressions set on the mystical numbers a puzzling and disjointed alignment with of a Byzantine plan-there is a small the other elements composing the facade. campo, a spot, where it is possible to see how a significant metamorphosis of the The entry to the group of buildings constructed environment took place. composing the monastery of San This campiello, a clearing in the forest of Sebastiano is located on the south side of dwelling of Venice, is a place which can the campiello. Laid with a perspectival open our eyes to the opacity of dwelling. angle, which recalls that of the Imago In this privileged locus, light and dark Urbis of the Ideal Cities, the facade of the meet in the shades and shadows of edi­ entryway is a thaumaturgic piece of ar­ fices to generate an interpretation of the chitecture. It is the last "autograph piece" human expression of reality in the facts of designed by Scarpa. The restoration was construction. This is one of those places completed in 1979, exactly one year afrer where the poetic dimension of dwelling Scarpa's death. This critical piece of de­ CarkJ Scarpa. Facade ofthe Monastery of San Sebastino, Venice. can auspiciously be measured, an opus of sign is an orsera ( a white !stria stone) base architecture where a new semiosis of within which is located the portal for the mental or symbolic representations; to be assimilated in the architecture of numbers can be assimilated. Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of rather, these two kinds of representations Venice. The facades of Scarpa and the UnJversity of Venice, recently relo­ are unified in the glorification of the vir­ Scarpagnino are stones of Venice which The direct path between San Barnaba and cated within the monastery complex. tual and real joints of a construction. In speak of architecture as embodied San Angelo Ranffaele leads down Calle This discreet assembly of stone pieces Scarpa's buildings, the power of a tectonic knowledge. They demonstrate that archi­ Lunga San Barnaba, which, as the name contains in its construction the discrete imagination is the core of the architec­ tecture is a traditional knowledge which states, is on of the longest Calli in Venice. poetry of the number 11 (eleven). tural metier, Although interested in the allows translation of ideas from one field Just before we reach the beautiful, architecture ofAalto, I.e Corbusier, Wright, to another, and as a way of letting monumental apses of the church of the Scarpa created his poetry by metaphori­ Wagner, Loos, and Hoffmann, Scarpa thoughts hanging around. Resting against Angelo Raffaele, a small bridge ends the cally using found fragments of the con­ was above all interested in the stones of the old facade of the Monastery of San Calle by bringing us into a little campo, a structed world. His poetry was brought Venice. Scarpa's architecture is regional: Sebastiano, Scarpa's stone base enters a campiello. The urbanity of the campiello into being by the growth of a tradition the architectural traditions of Venice are productive dialogue with the facade of the is controlled spatially by the small facadee within the trade of modernity. The rela­ the hidden representations. Every Scarpa Scarpagnino. Thesis and counter-thesis of San Sebastiano. Built circa 1540, it was tionship between the part and the whole building contains invisible parts of are deveolped, and the argument is re­ desighed by Antonio Abbondi, better dominates Scarpa's architecture and Venice. Scarpa did not design within an solved in the joint between the two fa­ known under the epithet of Scarpagnio.6 many critics have labeled his architecture historical eclectic dimension. His designs cades, where the lowest of the binary col­ The facade is a playful metamorphosis of as fragmentary. However, the result is not were based on a continuous trade with umns set by Scarpagnino engages the base 38 the traditional front elevation ofVenetian a discrete architecture of mere instru- history producing new building elements designed by Scarpa. The two windows on Scarpa's architecture is a discreet and pediment. The perimeter of these two playful project which relates to the traces round openings is decorated by 11 patens of tradition. In this specific case, the tra­ of precious marble, a decoration born dition is the Venetian constructive ability from the Venetian tradition of slicing pil­ to reconciliate discrete building elements fered marble columns. Under these two of disparate origin without becoming windows there is a vertical dark mark eclectic. The San Sebastiano project was caused by rain deposits. This weather­ begun by Scarpagnino when he harmo­ mark become a beauty-mark in Scarpa's nized pilfered columns with his design of solution for the round windows in the the facade and carried on by Scarpa's at­ Banca Popolare in Verona. In the plaster tuning numbers and numerals of the under the round opening Scarpa has in­ ventilation openings, a tradition which setted a venical molding 5.5 centimeters finds its most beautiful expression in the wide. The dark rain mark is controlled by dozen of the ventilation holes used in the a pair of venical filetti composing the small passage connecting the church on molding. An ugly effect then becomes a the island of San Michele, designed by discreet decoration born under the sign of Mauro Codussi, a 12, with the later addi­ wonder. tion of the Emiliana chapel. The greatest architectural wonder is in the In his design of the entry facade, Scarpa is use of proponions and again Cusanus' s also introducing new elements resulting Layman teaches us: from the transmutation of fenile motifS. Here, the transmuted motif is a ziggurat­ Without number, it is not possible for molding which becomes the solution for proportion to exist. Proportion is the any problem of detailing the entry door. realm of forms, for without a pro­ This motif has been used by Scarpa on portion suitable and adapted to a several other occasions, in cast concrete form, the form is not able to appear. form for a cemetery in a countryside, in As I have said, the form ofthe spoon is red marble for a bank in a dense urban not able to remain once the proportion environment, and now in orsera for the suitable to it is ruined. It would not entry to an institution of higher learning, have a location. Its proportion is like in a quiet recess of a historical city. In the the aptitude of the surface of the latter specific use of the fenile motif, the mirror for the reflection ofan image. iconic and indexical signs reveal that ar­ Once this foils, the representation Carlo Scarpa. Round window in the front facade ofDanca di Verona. chitecture is a corporeal project, not a ceases to exist. Observe the way in typological composition. The corporeal which the infinite unity ofan exem­ the ground floor of the monastery have simple numerical artifice is a clear indica­ image imposed on the artifacts by the plar is able to appear only in a suit­ been closed by the slabs of orsera raised by tion that architecture is a project based on means of numbers is a significant mask. able proportion. Number is such a Scarpa against the base of the facade. The a projectiviry set between construction This image becomes clear in the detail of proportion. (Nicholas of Cusa memory of these window openings is elements, not a composition of similar the step leading to the door, a stone 1989:72-73) marked by the original stone lintels parts. Speculating on the wonderful nature tongue gently protruding from the fa­ showing above the stone base. In Scarpa's of numbers, Cusanus's Layman stated: cade. The module used in the ziggurat is The proponional geometry of the circles design, the windows were replaced by 5.5 centimeters. of the windows of Verona is extremely round ventilation holes. Ten round holes Number, in fact, is composed out of it­ peculiar. They are what Scarpa used to replace the window near the door, and self, since every number is a composite of Eleven as a powerful invention of inspired call dynamic circles. They are built by sixteen the other. The graphic arrange­ an even and an odd number. Thus technology finds its best expression in using a circle with a radius of five dimen­ ment of these holes recalls the ancient number is composed out ofnumber. Ifyou another ecclesiastic building built a few sional units intersected with another Greek notational figure for odd numbers, said the number three is composed of years before S. Sebastiano.8 This is the circle with the same diameter with the but they are slightly different. What seem three units, you would be speaking the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, de­ distance between the two centers of one to us triangular-odd-numbers are instead way someone claims that walls and roof signed by Pietro Lombardo. This church unit. The interior half cirlcles are re­ square-even-numbers: the triangular com­ make a house when they stiU exist sepa­ has 11 bays in the main body, and its nave moved and the two remaining half circles position ofthe orifices generates an even sum rately. For ifthe walls and the roofare is divided by a change of level marked by are then connected by two segments in every opening but one, which of course is separate, no house is composedftom them 11 steps. Outside, on the upper story of equal to one unit. The result of this con­ the exception that confirms the rule. This (Nicholas ofCusa 1989:72). the facade, two oculi mark the round-top struction is a dynamic circle which, in one 39 Andrea Palladio. Interlocking columns of Palazzo Chiericatti, Vtcenza.

Carlo Scarpa. ElevatWn ofthe chapel in the Brion Graveyard, San Vtto d'Altivole, T reviso. Carlo Scarpa. Interlocking circles in the floor window in chapel at Brion Graveyard

direction, has a diameter of eleven units. columns. Scarpa's decorative interlocking curtain of weeping willow which masks funeral was the first to be held in the The dimensional unit used in Verona's circles are thus derived from a metaphori­ the entrance of the Brion Mausoleum, chapel he designed for the Brions. Scarpa windows is the canonical5.5 centimeters. cal section of Palladio' s refined columns the visitor does not face the dim and is buried in a piece of ground in a fold of Scarpa used the same proportional geom­ on the front porch of Palazw Chiericatti gloomy interior of a mausoleum, but a the wall enclosing the Brion graveyard. etry, the molding with the two filetti and in Vicenza, a place where Scarpa, as a short corridor facing a window made The grave is ambiguously located be­ the canonical set of endeca-measures in child, used to play marbles, as he stated with two interlocking rings. Situated in a tween the private and the public sections the design of the silver spoon, fork and on an interview for Italian television. wall of cast-in-place concrete, this win­ of the cemetery. A flat lying tombstone knife he designed for Cleto Munari on Scarpa derived his interlocking circles dow is framed by two rings made with designed by his son Tobia marks Scarpa's November 6, 1977. from the section of the two interlocking circularly bent steel I profiles. A decora­ burial place. The dominant decoration is columns in the colonnade which mark tion of pink and light blue tesseras of a grid of small black dots and ziggurat Scarpa's interlocking circles are based on the passage from the line of the front Venetian glass mosaic is embedded profiles marked on Scarpa's favorite di­ a similar procedure of dynamic and pro­ porch to the protruding central part of it. within the canals of the profile section. mension of 5.5 centimeters. portional geometry. Two circles are One ring is pink and the other is blue. traced and the distance between one exte­ The most famous instance of these inter­ The colors are reversed on the other side The Greek word sema, which means rior arch to the other exterior arch is of locking circles is within the Brion Cem­ of the wall. In these circles, original ca­ tomb and grave in one of its many usages, eleven units and the centers of the two etery, in San Vito d'Altivole. This grave­ nonical proportions such as 'root of two,' does not merely refer to a place of inter­ circles are respectively on the marks of the yard is acknowledged by many critics as or the Golden Mean are disregarded; in­ ment, but implicitly refers to it as marked third and eighth unit. Scarpa, as a good Scarpa's masterpiece, and the architect stead, a proportion of duplicity is present, place, as one where a corpse has been Venetian architect, derived his decorative himself selected it as his own burial a duplicity touched but never fully ritually interred. Adolf Loos (1985) 40 profiles and figures from the sectioning ground. After moving past the natural reached, the duplicity of eleven. Scarpa's dearly indicates that the beginning afar- chitecture is in the mound erected to man imagination in powerful architec­ mark the grave of a peasant in the middle tural elements, Janus is the god of doors, of a wood, not in the over-ornate sym­ gates, arches, and bridges. He has a pair of bolic palace in the city. The semantic use faces: one looking toward the future and of numbers has the same ritual beginning, the other toward the past. Thinking of a tectonic presence. Various human ac­ these peculiar divine qualities of} anus we tivities necessary to the wonder of con­ can trace the tectonic qualities of eleven in struction lead to the use of numerals in the ambiguity between its nature of being human activities such as counting, mea­ a cardinal number between 10 and 12 suring, shaping, forming, estimating, and its character of being the smallest moving, celebrating, calculating, proving, repunits, a number whose digits are all puzzling and so on. A calendar is the units. In other words Janus is a perfect result of relating many of those activities mythical representation of the peculiar number is the exemplar ofour mind's concept. to a cosmological changing of seasons. event that in architecture it is true that Without number, the mind cannot do anything. The Roman Calendar was of eleven Eleven equals One+ One. Scarpa secu­ Neither months. As the Latin origin of the name larized this mythical event in the wonder­ Assimilation, conception, discretion, states, December was the tenth month ful incidents of his architectural opus, an nor measurement would occur ifnumber did not exist. and January was the eleventh month assimilation ofVenetian construction and In the absence ofnumber , which marked the ending and the be­ construing: These secular events are state­ things cannot be understood ginning of the year. February did not ments of architectural numerology, a as separate and discrete. count; it was a period in between-a discipline of conjectural explanations and Nor without number, period when people suffered of fevers divinations which recognizes regional and is one thing understood (Februa=Februaris). The first month of anthropomorphic tectonics as the footing to be substance, the year was March (Sabbaducci 1988:9- for the use of numbers in the architectural another quality, 12, 38-40). January was the month de­ project, and following Nicholas ofCusa's and so on for the other categories. voted to Janus, the Roman god of be­ lead we can assert: Consequent& nothing can be understood without numbers, ginnings and endings. Embodied by hu- because is the mode ofunderstanding (Nicholas of Cusa 1989:74) .

Philadelphia: January 11, 1991.

NOTES

1. This anicle is dedicated to the memory of developed in the luminous design of the Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968. Thorn Rene, Modefes Mathematiques de Ia Giuseppe Zambonini, a very good friend facade of San Michele in Isola designed by Gregorti, Vittorio. "The Weakness of Criticism," Morphogeruse, Paris, UGE, 1974. who was a 17. Mauro Codussi. Casabella 562,1990, pp.2-3 & 63. Vattimo, Gianni, "Ornament/Monument," The End 2. For a rich discussion of the ars mamuralis 8 . Here I am using the locution inspired Ifiah, Georges. From One to Zero: a Universal History of Modernity, The John Hopkins University Press, and its implications see PernioIa (1985; 149- technowgy in the sense give to it by L.I.Kahn. ofNumbers, Harmondsworth, 1987. Baltimore 1988, pp. 80-89. 169). Le Corbusier (P. Jeanaret). Modulor I & 2, London Vattimo, Gianni. "Dialectics, Difference and Weak 3. For a discussion of the tripanite structure of REFERENCES 1954-58. Thought," Graduate Faculty Phiwsophy journal, Vol index, icon, and symbol see; Eco (1976) and Loos, Ado!£ "Architecture," 1910, The Architecture of 10, n.1 1984, pp. 151-165. Sebeok (1975). Alberti, Leon Bartista. Ten Books on Architecture, tc. J. AdolfLoos, 1985, Precision Press, London. Vattimo, Gianni. 'The End of Modernity. The End 4. Doni's Numeri is an extrodinary text. The Leoni 1726, Tiranti, 1955. Menninger, Karl. Number Wordr and Number of the Project," journal ofPhiwsophy and the Vzsual book was dedicated to George Fugger (d. Brukert, Walter. Lore and Science in Ancient Symbols, MIT Cambridge, 1958, 1969. Aro, 1990, pp. 74-77. 1560). Through Doni's writings it is possible Pythagoreanism, Harvard University Press, Carbridge, Nicholas of Cusa. The lAyman on Wtdsom and the Vitruvius, [Marcus Pollio] , On Architecture, cr. & ed. to set a connection with the leading 1972. 1962. Mind, Dovehouse, Ottawa 1989. F. Granger, 2 vols., London, 1931. Renaissance cablists and to the an of memory Butler, Christopher. Number Symbolism, New York, Ransdall, Joseph. "On Pierce's Conception of the Wells, David, The Penguin Dictionary ofCurious and of Guilio Camillo (Doni, 1981;9-21). 1970. Iconic Sign," /conicity, Ttibingen, Scauffenbing­ Interesting Numbm, Harmondsworth, 1986. 5 . This facade was designed by Giuseppe De Sola Morales, Ignasi. "Weak Architecture," Verlag 1986, pp.51-74. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Phiwsophical Investigation, Massari. Ottagono, 92. Sabbaducci, Dario. La Religione di Rmna Antica, dal Blackwell 1953. 6 . In Venetian language, scarpagnino is a Doni, Anton Francesco. I Numeri, A Del Fame ed, calendario fotivo aU'ordine cosmico, ll Saggiatore, Milan Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Wittgenstein s Lectures on the diminutive form used to indicate a small Rome, Bulzoni, 1981. 1988. Foundation ofMathematics, 1939, Harvestener Press. chisel and scarpa is the form for a normal Eco, Umberto. A Theory of Semiotics, Bloomington: Scarpa, Carlo. "Madrid Lecture," Carw Scarpa, The Wittkower, Rudolf, Architectural Principles in the Age chisel. Indiana University. Press, 1976. Complete Works, eds. F. Dal Co & G. Maxzariol, New of Humanism rev ed London, 1962. 7 . For instance, pedimented windows are found Franz, Marie-Luise von. Number and Time, York, Rizz.oli, 1986. Wright, Crispin, Wittgenstein on the Foundation of only in scuok or palaces. The design attempt Evanston, 1974. Sebeok, Thomas, A "Six Species of Signs," Semiotica, Mathematics, Harvard University Press, 1980. by the Scarpagnino is similar to the one Freidberg, Richard. An Adventurers Guide to Number 13, 1975, pp. 233-260. 41