Located near the coast of the city of Pescara in Italy, the De Amicis 154 residence forms a dialogue with its surrounding urban landscape through overlapping terraces. Designed by the 1993-established Italian architecture practice Giovanni Vaccarini Architetti, the palazzina, a multi-family residential building, takes references from the linear development of the Adriatic coast. The expansive balconies and glass openings overlook the sea, facilitating the private residences with gushes of gentle breeze and ample natural light.

Founded by architect Giovanni Vaccarini and based in Pescara, the practice is well-versed in designing contextual architecture that responds to the local culture and urban development. Having worked on a variety of interventions, from residences and schools to stadiums and hospitals, the practice specialises in facilitating a conversational interplay of private and public spaces. For the De Amicis 154, Vaccarini draws on his thorough research and experience with designing palazzina, such as the Riviera 107 project, situated not far from the coastal neighbourhood.

The residential building does not confine itself to boundaries to assert a visual or territorial dominance along the street. Even though it fundamentally falls under the building typology of a palazzina, the architects attempted a hybrid, contextual design that sits as an approachable, familiar intervention. With the intent of ‘reinterpreting the block building type’, the architects stack single-storey villas on top of one another, breaking the conventional archetypes of residential architecture in the city.

The modern architecture features an understated facade design, where the forms appear as ‘stacked planes’, extending outwards in an organised, controlled progression. The northwest facade is accentuated by slender steel columns that, beyond providing structural integrity, lead one’s eyes upwards, balancing the horizontally dominant form of the building. The building’s simple, minimalist geometry is emphasised by clean lines that run along the three axes, becoming more prominent at night as the building is illuminated. “The lighting design is inspired by the ‘presentosa’, an 18th-century Abruzzese jewel, where a series of golden filaments radiate from the central part of a star-shaped pendant,” states the Italian architect in the press release. By integrating lighting strips as details within the surfaces, the focus remains on the building as a whole without breaking it down into components or zones despite having multiple levels.

With a gross floor area of 1,300 sq m, the minimalist architecture occupies a small footprint at the ground level, accommodating essential utility and circulation areas, along with a straight corridor that connects the front and the back of the building. Comprising the staircase and the lift that connects all the levels, the central circulation core is the only component of the building that stays consistent with its layout along the floors. The multi-directional terraces act as buffer zones, making the peripheries of every floor porous enough to facilitate natural light and ventilation. The private residences on every floor cater to the needs of its residents, featuring distinct spatial designs to accommodate the respective functions. The volume of the interior spaces is comfortable in scale, featuring 2.7 metres of height, where activities spill over beyond the enclosure and towards the expansive balconies. The terrace level offers a garden landscape for communal meetups and events, providing uninterrupted views of the coastline.

With the De Amicis 154 project, Vaccarini acknowledges and explores the anarchic architectural typology that is palazzina, underlining the historical contributions of renowned post-war Italian architects to the urban fabric of Italy, which continues to influence and inspire the architects of the present. The building—featuring modest design and architecture elements such as straight lines, rectangular surfaces and cuboidal volumes—stands out with its simplicity in form and porosity of its exterior shell and interior design. The extending terraces go beyond being aesthetic architectural devices, facilitating privacy and outdoor activity zones for the residents.

Project Details