In collaboration with: RKTTS | Architecture and design studio
Project Team: Matteo Martini, Lorenzo Facchini, Eleonora Bertolotto, Matteo Sacco, Matilde Villa, Cristina Calcagno, Matteo Tron
Category: Hospitality, Commercial
Size: 4.000 sq meters
Year: 2021
Location: Loano (SV)
Client: Y.A.C. Leisure Harbor for Marina di Loano
Status: Contest
Result: Finalist Mention
The current situation of the Marina di Loano is characterized by a series of buildings aligned with each other by a raised pedestrian path, an ideal continuation of the Loano promenade that connects the town with the two nearby towns. Going east, in its final stretch, the walk also embraces the Marina.
While dedicated to tourists and enthusiasts who choose it as a destination or as a fixed location for their boats, the Marina di Loano is also characterized by a strong bond with the city of Loano and with the tourists and residents who live there. It is a constant source of attraction for open-air physical activity, placing itself in continuity with the coastal pedestrian and cycle path.
This appeal is evident in the daily coming and going of people who populate the promenade at different times of the day, and especially in the evening.
From the context analysis, we identified as a priority the rethinking of Building C. Here, in our opinion, are concentrated the major issues, deriving from the almost conflictual relationship between this existing architecture and the remaining ones, both in terms of architectural language and in terms of accessibility determined by a closed shape.
Many people walk along the quay and the waterfront, and yet the architecture created (Building C) does not promote these activities or generate the opportunity to interact with the other buildings. The way to buildings A and B, the connection between the lower level of the boats and the level of the promenade on the main pier, are absolutely not clear.
The fundamental goal is to favor, promote pedestrian paths, by making them attractive and user-friendly. This network of paths will mark a new center of gravity, which will revive the Marina, enhancing its unexpressed potential as a public space, where meeting between people of the sea and land can happen, searching a new meaning in the relationship between Town and Harbor.
This public space, facing the catwalk, will welcome people coming from Loano and suggest the way to Buildings A and B, where accommodation, fitness and the yacht club are located.
The new architecture proposed is generated by the public space, by the functions of meeting, aggregation, mobility and entertainment, by the desire to invent a new path at higher altitude and generate a panoramic terrace, becoming only as a consequence a container for commercial spaces and offices.
Gently going up on foot from the path of the pier, will generate an anticipation of reaching the new point of view: a large terrace from which to admire the enchanting 360° panorama, the boats, the sea, but also the Town and the inland, sunrise and sunset.
The curved lines and the sliding of the horizontal planes, with the succession of solids and voids, recall the forms of contemporary "yacht design" where hulls and decks follow one another seamlessly, as well as the use of materials such as darkened glass and wood alternating with the white volumes of the hulls.
The same language is applied to the restyling of buildings A and B, already characterized by a style that draws from the naval world, visually harmonizing the architectures of the Marina, up to the redesign of the slat of the commercial facade (building D), which, although already functioning from a commercial point of view, can be further enhanced and integrated into the system.
The redevelopment of the beach (Area E) is inspired by the recent examples of northern European water-fronts. A system of walkways and piers has been devised to mark the bathing areas and amplify their possibilities. The light and removable architectures constitute an extension of the promenade towards the open sea. These objects are scattered with different episodes for play, sport, bathing, fishing and the general relationship with water.
