Starck’s Dream of Winter Gondola
This is a post about contrasts – new and old, fanciful and time-tested, inspiration and tradition. This is also a post about Venetian gondolas.
The gondola, the iconic Venetian rowing boat, has been around since at least the 11th century. It is estimated that there were eight to ten thousand gondolas on the Venetian canals during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, there are only around four hundred in active service today, with virtually all of them used for hire by tourists. The gondolas’ future is uncertain at best.
Recently, Dezeen Magazine has reported that the famous French designer, Philippe Starck, has envisioned a futuristic gondola as a “symbol for the future of Venice.”
They go on to write: Philippe Starck has designed the Dream of Winter Gondola as part of a program to encourage Venetian creatives to use design as a tool for innovation.
Starck’s modern gondola – a traditional flat-bottomed rowing boat – was designed to “merge the identity of Italian beauty and heritage”.
It was created for VeniSIA, a corporate accelerator program at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice that aims to inspire students and local Venetians to pursue creative actions and strategies for innovation.
A 3D drawing of the gondola is currently being exhibited at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice’s Hub of Strategy Innovation.
Starck, who has lived on the Venetian island of Burano for the past 50 years, envisioned the updated gondola being constructed from laminated compressed bamboo due to the durability and strength of the material.
The boat would run on a mini electric turbine, which would be powered by solar energy and a hydro-generator. This was designed to help the gondolier power the boat with less effort, while still adhering to the sustainability requirements needed for the project.
To compensate for the natural twist at the hull of the gondola, Starck imagines that a gyroscope – a device that helps to stabilize the boat and eliminate unnecessary swaying – would be installed.
“A small gyroscope is an easy way to control the stability without adding weight,” said Starck.
“This gyroscope is powered by a mixture of solar energy and a rotative turbine if the gondolier wishes,” he continued. “It gives the possibility, at the same time, to propel the gondola and, when the gondola is not used, to create tidal energy.”
“It is the same untouchable icon, the same iconic silhouette but washed by the time and deeply, structurally modern by the technology,” said Starck.
Starck’s vision raises many questions. Is bamboo necessarily an improvement over the various types of wood used to build the traditional gondola? Does an electric turbine, solar power, a hydro-generator, and a gyroscope add or detract from the sophisticated simplicity of a gondola?
To address, if not necessarily answer, these questions, here is a short video by Hakai Magazine that interviews Roberto Tramontin, one of the few remaining master craftsmen and gondola builders.
Thanks to Roberta Weisbrod for contributing to this post.