The coastal resort town of Jesolo is part of a geographical area bounded to the south by the Venetian lagoon and to the north by the Dolomite mountains. A former island fishing village, Jesolo developed into a seaside resort town in the 1930s following land reclamation that joined it to the mainland. Its proximity to Venice, the Dolomites and the Italian frontier has made it a favorite holiday destination for Italians, Germans and Austrians.
Jesolo’s urban fabric understandably developed parallel to its extensive beachy shoreline that stretches for miles in either direction. From the 1950s onward, unchecked speculation led to the construction of a jumble of unremarkable low-rise apartment blocks, maisonettes and large condominiums with street-level retail outlets. The appearance of the residential and commercial complex “Le bâtiment descendant l’escalier” amid this urban hotch-potch approximately 100 m from the beach between Via Bafile and Via Aquileia, comes as an unexpected shock. Making no attempt to dialogue with its surroundings, the condominium dwarfs neighboring buildings, standing as an outsized intruder while, however, not blocking the view for nearby constructions. The extraordinary feature of this project designed by ELASTICOFarm lies in the challenge it throws down to the monotonous undistinguished constructions that have blanketed the Italian coastline where any attempt at architectural experimentation has been sidelined in the name of real estate profitability. Here, the architecture practice teamed up with a courageous client willing to accept a project that although a business risk was extremely innovative in terms of urban quality, structure and typology.
Underpinning the whole design is the complex’s central position, its retail ground floor, and dual outlook: towards the sea to the south, and the mountains to the north. In order to reap maximum potential from the commercial and...
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