Place: Varazze (SV), Via Maestri d’Ascia, 24
Authors: Roberto Gabetti, Aimaro Isola, Pietro Venezia
Chronology: 1984 | 2006
Itinerary: Italy goes on vacation
Use: Tourist pier and services
Along the coastal road that leads from Genoa to Savona, overlooking the Ligurian Sea, the Marina embraces the municipality of Varazze’s urban center with its circular dock. The project was executed in 2006, after a long gestation, by the Turin architects Roberto Gabetti and Aimaro Isola, with the collaboration of local architect Pietro Venezia. Their project defines an area enclosed by two piers, set according to the coastline, protecting a touristic port able to accommodate about 800 boats.
The waterfront is defined by a sequence of buildings with warehouses, shops, and residences. An uninterrupted portico in iroko wood, holding a suspended walkway overlooking the water, functionally and figuratively links all the volumes of the intervention.
The wooden frames envelop the buildings, defining an architecture inspired by the early twentieth-century Ligurian beach facilities.
The green antiqued copper roofs of the Marina buildings create a new landscape with a strong evocative character. They are inserted discreetly into the setting, allowing a deferred perception of the sea from the inland.
From the coast road, the altitude difference is absorbed by a parking basement, accessible by an internal road. An artificial dune connects the driveway to the first level of the buildings, concealing the spaces used for storage. At the dune top, some small public spaces squares interrupt the continuity of the walkway that connects the buildings.
The relationship between the road and the port is guaranteed by an extremely varied set of access systems, direct or deferred. In some cases, open courts between buildings represent a qualified filter between the two systems of spaces.