De Amicis 154

TR

The new building at Via De Amicis 154, designed by Giovanni Vaccarini Architetti in the center of Pescara, Italy, reinterprets the concept of a residential structure, blending traditional typology with a more direct connection to the urban environment.

Conceived as a series of overlapping residences, the new architecture by Giovanni Vaccarini opens onto the city through spacious terraces that extend variably around a central core. The building’s ground level steps back from the street frontage, occupying only a minimal portion of the lot and creating the conditions for continuity with the surrounding public space.

The center of Pescara is built on a modern urban fabric where the Adriatic coast and its linear development serve as a key reference. Giovanni Vaccarini, whose studio has been based in Pescara for many years, has repeatedly explored his architectural ideas within this context. The new building at Via De Amicis 154 is located near the coast, just a short distance from the central Piazza Salotto. Surrounded by tree-lined avenues and several architecturally significant buildings, the palazzina at Via De Amicis embodies a contemporary vision with a strong emphasis on connecting with the surrounding urban fabric and public space.

The building emerges as a series of stacked planes with lush terraces that fully encircle the apartments, projecting toward the city in multiple directions. The inhabited spaces expand centrifugally around the building’s central core, which has a minimal footprint at ground level, creating a dynamic interplay of extension and contraction. This configuration takes advantage of sightlines and establishes visual and spatial connections with the surrounding area, fostering an engaging relationship with its environment.

Viewed in plan at street level, the building presents a compact central core that occupies only a portion of the buildable lot. This central area primarily serves as an entrance to the upper floors and features a pathway that continues the sidewalk, inviting visitors to move through the volume from one side to the other. On the upper levels, this concept is reversed, with each floor expanding to varying extents, creating a building profile that is both open and dynamic. Vaccarini’s approach aims to reinterpret the block building type, incorporating a unique distribution concept shaped by unexpected sea views and its urban context. As a result, the palazzina takes on the appearance of a striking series of stacked villas.

“The building on Via De Amicis is not a palazzo,” stated Giovanni Vaccarini, “but it’s not a villa either. It’s a hybrid, a deformation that has disrupted the established relationship between building type and urban morphology typical of the historic city.”

This new work by Vaccarini can be seen as a living organism driven by the need to seek out light, views, and opportunities for connection. Its six above-ground floors extend variably, reaching outward where the urban environment allows, in search of glimpses of the landscape between the sea and the mountains. On the northwest side, where the projection is most pronounced, a series of slender steel columns—three single and three paired—stand irregularly. These columns emphasize the perception of verticality while also contributing to the structural integrity of the building.

The search for contemporary urban space is also evident in the decision to highlight the building with numerous subtle lines of light that radiate from the central core. Primarily placed in the undersides of the protruding floors, these light lines often continue along the vertical walls, emphasizing the theme of extending the living experience into the city. In doing so, they enhance the building’s visual relationship with the surrounding space and reinforce its connection with the public realm.