Type of project
Commercial Building
Year
2007
Tag
Landscape Cement Repoussage and Chasing Clay-brick Reflection Colour Water
Mentions
CASABELLA N.861
INVOLUCRI IN COTTO
d’Architettura N.25
IL LATERIZIO FACCIA A VISTA
italiArchitettura 1
iiCN.853
Photographers
Paola De Pietri
Status
Completed
Location
Livorno, Italy
A glimpse at the general plan reveals the magnitude of the project, which includes a 750-metre-long breakwater, six fixed and three mobile piers for 600 boats in the new lagoon, a promenade that intercedes (and serves as an embankment) with respect to the inconsistent construction of the lots along the east side of the port area, the large quay on which the shipyard is located at the south end, the service “village” to the north (guest housing, shops, offices, garages) and the port supervision and management building.
The intersection of two parallelepipeds of the port supervision and management building defines the architectural characteristic of the whole project, conceived as a focal point as viewed from the promenade along the quay.
The vertical body of the exposed concrete tower seems almost driven into the ground. The face of the building directed towards the port is configured as a sort of massive entrance open to the outside, offering panoramic views at various levels that extend and conclude the public space of the promenade and the square. In contrast, the horizontal volume of the offices seems to be suspended above the ground; the structure is raised three and a half metres in the air, supported by the tower structure on one side and by a “dematerialised” cementitious plinth painted black on the other. This part of the construction is assembled using a “lightweight” technique: a modular steel frame, infilled with continuous glass surfaces protected externally by a series of brick and horizontal metal slats. This “skin” gives the building an ambivalent quality: when viewed during the day, it is as lightweight as it is impenetrable; at night, the buildings’ volume is transformed into a sort of luminous lantern, turning it into a glowing landmark.
Coloured concrete frames and surfaces, and brick and metal sunshades are made from the same construction materials used for the buildings in the “village”.
