giovannivaccariniarchitects selected architecture 2000_2020
GIOVANNI VACCARINI architects _ SINCRETICA architecture selected architecture 2000_2021
WE DESIGN VALUE If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have replied a “faster horse” Henry Ford
WHO WE ARE Giovanni Vaccarini Architects It is a design company that operates, with twentyfive years experience in the field of architectural planning, design, research and integrated design. The quality, with all its possible forms, is the main goal of our work. The company is certified ISO 9001-2008 for the design and services of architecture and engineering. GVA has always been oriented as well as the Italian and European markets, even to the international market; currently it has building sites and projects in Italy, Geneva, Switzerland and Riyadh, KSA - Saudi Arabia
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We are an architecture and design lab. We are a family of creative minds. Our projects are closely collaborative, bringing a fresh perspective, inspiring confidence and building commitment Since 1993 we have developed more than 450 design projects in 10 countries. We have received 20 Awards and nominations
Designing is an art of listening “Listening” to the city, the site, the environment in which we design, listening to the multiple instances of each project, listening to users / clients.
Designing is an art of transposition From listening to the project, or from the idea to the project, there is never a linear process but a complex set of interrelations that constantly informs the final result. The metamorphosis from the idea to the project requires wisdom and knowledge (know how)
We work daily to refine our sensitivity to listening, wisdom and knowledge, in order to be able to support our clients in making adequate choices and transforming ideas into architecture and a better environment for the whole community.
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TEDxPescara 2019
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- scenography : Giovanni Vaccarini Architects
EVERYTHING IS DESIGN
work on understanding problem We the problem, rather than jumping to exploration solutions. This makes decisions easier
We combine wide-ranging expertise with a passion for creativity and a willingness to reaffirm the responsibility of our work for the environment and for future generations.
commintment to making it happen
and ultimately leads to more effective solutions. Multiviewpoint Approach We explore more options.
We believe that everything can be done in at least two ways, structured and systematic, we leave no stone unturned in finding the best solution. We are pragmatic idealists. We know what works in the real world, but at the same time we know that this knowledge would be nothing without a long-term vision.
design solving real solutions
Design is a method of problem solving. We offer not just ground-breaking ideas, but the knowledge and wisdom to develop your projects.
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RIVIERA107
Location: Pescara_Italy
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VR107 is an urban regeneration intervention. It’s a graft of a new architecture within a piece of the widespread coastal conurbation of Pescara. “Pescara is an American city in Italy”
replaced by the rampant building type of the “palazzina”. It’s an isolated block typology with central vertical distribution around which the accommodations are distributed, two or more per floor.
This is how Giulio Piovene in his “trip to Italy” defines Pescara, a linear city, without a real center, born from the confluence of the people of Abruzzo who moved from the mountains towards the coast in search of work and better living conditions. Pescara is a very young city, it is less than a hundred years old, it was founded in 1927, but it was after the war that the city grew at a dizzying pace.
The building is the figuration of these profound transformations: it is not a “palace” (it does not have the size, but above all the urban role), but it is not even a small one.
Pescara after the war, the birthplace of Ennio Flaiano, is a city of strong contrasts: it is the city of “vitelloni”, idle boys who spent their time in the clubs of the seaside city, but, at the same time, the hard-working city of a prosperous and young entrepreneurs who today have taken on national and international dimensions. The project is located in a portion of the urban fabric that effectively tells this tumultuous growth: some - survivors - liberty or neo-classical villas are flanked by imposing multi-storey buildings, often without quality, interventions resulting from the unification of several lots. Some of the villas, over the years, have been quickly
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It is a hybrid (another pivotal step), a de-formation that has undermined the consolidated relationship between building typology and urban morphology typical of the historic city. The project idea is to reinterpret the block typology of the building by introducing a distribution logic by bands and dissecting the typological scheme in its view towards the sea. The east elevation (overlooking the sea) is thought as a section rather than a prospect: the monolithic body of the building is cut and the floors “slide” outwards in a random order. The sliding of the floors defines a system of overhangs that extends towards the sea, defining a portion of the house in the open air, a sort of “urban overflow”.
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The new building is designed according to the principles of bio-architecture and eco-compatibility with particular attention to the following aspects: _ Study of the orientation and scanning of solids and voids; the south and north side, more subjected to the action of summer sunshine (south) and the action of cold winter winds (north), are designed as walls / slabs punctuated by small openings over the entire size of the floor. 2540
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Energy plant with zero local CO2 emissions due to the total absence of combustion, articulated on a system of high efficiency heat pumps. The building is designed and built in class A+ Choice of materials and finishes on the basis of the preliminary LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology are in order to guarantee the minimum environmental impact.
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POWERBARN
Location: Russi | Italy
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What really strikes the attention of the observer is the multifaceted pattern that Giovanni Vaccarini designed for the external skin of the two main buildings: large triangular surfaces envelope the volumes of the furnace and chimney, cleverly subverting their geometries. Made with steel structures, they are weaved with wooden panels, laid in a parallel pattern. The weave of the wooden shingles does not follow a uniform pattern, but instead it changes direction on each face, thus offering to the observer an ever changing perception of the building, that varies depending on the point of view and the different hours of the day or light conditions. The wooden cladding is also a tribute to the art of weaving and nomadic architecture. “The Razzle Dazzle camouflage technique is extremely interesting to me. I studied it very closely in order to then be able to conceive an unconventional architectural solution. This is not about hiding, but rather about proposing a different reality to the observer, a more complex and deceptive one that, paradoxically, tends to attract his attention, making him wonder at what he sees.” In order to conceive this solution, Giovanni Vaccarini resorted to a Cubist-inspired technique of military camouflage developed during the Great War in the military marine industry. Known as Razzle Dazzle, this technique was originally used with the purpose of making the identification of British ships difficult, despite their significant size. It consists of a series of lines and graphic signs that interrupt and face each other, defining a disjointed motif which consequently confuses the observer’s perception, making it difficult to precisely estimate the distance and size of the object.
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SPG
location: Geneva | Switzerland
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The head office of the Swiss Société Privée de Gérance (SPG), is located in Route de Chêne, at the gates of the historical centre of Geneva. The work involved the reconversion and extension of the existing building, starting with the definition of a sophisticated architectural envelope which transformed the headquarters into a volume with vibratile materiality and seemingly elusive outlines: it’s a device that promotes the energy efficiency of the building. The quality of the work spaces is a central theme of the project which, through the original system that can be seen on the façade, provides the cue for a new architectural solution with strong aesthetic value and high energy sustainability. The glass façade ensures solar shading for the interiors and at the same time allows maximum visual permeability for the surrounding environment. It also allows the acoustic and thermal insulation performances of the building to be improved: the double skin means the envelope can be naturally ventilated and the perimeter ventilation system combined with the internal forced ventilation system reduces the overall energy consumption. The steel structural elements on the façade, produced by Stahlbau Pichler, a specialist in the sector, create a modular rhythm and reflect on the glass shading panels giving material weight to the light reflections.
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LA RADE
location: Geneva | Switzerland
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HANOI FAIRGROUNDS
Location: Hanoi | Vietnam
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K3 OFFICES
Location: Riyadh | Saudi Arabia
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This intervention involves the reconfiguration of an existing building on Mather Street in Riyadh (KSA). The new offices occupy a total of 3,000 square meters on nine storeys. The project redesigns the entire ground floor and all office and accessory spaces for some two hundred employees. The project revolves around the two key concepts of Identity and Flexibility. Identity is represented in the design of elements that characterize the image of the Italian company that will occupy the building; these elements are common to the company’s other offices around the globe, designed over the years by the office. Flexibility is one of the main requirements of contemporary office space; the project interprets this theme in the design of the interior building envelope that is designed as an open system: a discrete ceiling (not continuous), raised flooring and “technical” wainscoting. The entrance hall features a large cloud of wooden slats that configures the space and incorporates the lighting/communications systems.
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OLAYA TOWER-FIT OUT
location: Riyadh | SaudiArabia
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The design of the new headquarters of the HRDF Human Resource Development Fund includes a host of supporting facilities including an auditorium, a floor for “reflection areas” and a mosque. The levels for the offices are arranged to subvert the classical concept of offices served by a central corridor in favour of a new interpretation of work: from the central nucleus the space flows toward the exterior façade, privileging spaces of relationship and shared work. Service areas are located close to the core in a “thick wall” that becomes a screen and container, gradually assuming the dimensions of a room. The fluidity of space, the true theme of the project, is read in the wall finishes and in the sculpted ceiling: the tectonics of the desert are explicitly recalled through the use of shaped strips that recreate a kind of “inverted surface of desert dunes”. This complex system conceals the space reserved for the electrical system and assumes a twofold value: a simultaneously sculptural and purely functional element, a permeable interface. At the uppermost floors the common themes of the design are present based on a division of tasks and roles typical of Eastern culture. A series of “special” floors host public functions and services; an important role is given to the ground floor which features auditoriums, a kindergarten, a counter for job seekers and a banquet hall. This space is also shaped by plastic sculptural/functional elements. Also in this case the treatment of surfaces, especially the ceiling, plays a fundamental role: in some cases in blanched oak veneer, in others “clouds” of white lacquered fins, other times it is an open space, completely glazed and characterized by sculptural lights.
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PESCARA ARENA
Location: Pescara | Italy
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CRATERRE
Location: Montpellier | France
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STAYDIUM
jury award
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The idea is to design of a stadium that arises from nature, and can be reconverted into nature. A stadium/park that turns into a green hill that can always be enjoyed by the community. “Craterre” is the crasis between earth and hill. “Craterre” is inside a green filament that connects the city of Montpellier (to the north) with the airport and the sea (to the south). A journey within 5 minutes by car, 15 minutes by bike and 30/40 minutes on foot. The urban vision is that of a “green corridor” that starts from the north (le Bosses Nature Reserve) and descends southwards to the sea intersecting notable events in the city of Montlellier: the stadium (crater), the area of the Expo and the ‘airport. The local rural context was the inspiring element of a stadium/park completely immersed in nature and part of the north-south green corridor that connects the city of Montpellier with the sea. The stadium is also a strong communicative element from the highway A9 view. The stadium has a first ring dug into the existing ground level, this is the main access level through a podium that turns into an exhibition space, a place for events and a fun
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place. A podium that has a spectacular view over the football composition (an element that remains intact during multiple uses) Moreover, the whole green system from which the stadium is born, is a public space that is always accessible and available for leisure and outdoor use. Park, play area, places for temporary events, etc. The idea is to provide this part of the city with an equipped green infrastructure of which the stadium is a part. Furthermore, at the end of life the structure can be di-
smantled and all the soil returned to agricultural use. The main vehicle entrances are guaranteed by a branch at the current motorway junction. At this level we can guarantee vehicle and safety accesses, even directly in the field. A system that allows you to keep the main traffic flows separate from the “green” access routes to the stadium. A green infrastructure full of services. A suture that sews parts of the urban fabric with the existing service structures through an ecological and social corridor.
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SPORT CITADEL
Location: Torino | Italy
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4000 mt sports course
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location: Roma_Italy
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PIAZZA DEI CINQUECENTO
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GIOVANNI XXIII
ISTITUTO OMNICOMPRENSIVO
location: Avezzano_Italy
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P E S C A R A I T A L I A
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GVA _Giovanni Vaccarini Architect,
graduated with honors in Architecture from the “Gabriele D’Annunzio” University of Pescara in 1993. In 1994 he took a post-graduate specialization course in landscape architecture at University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in architectural composition. He is visiting professor at several Italian faculties of architecture and engineering. He was adjunct professor in Architectural Composition at the School of Architecture and the “Gabriele D’Annunzio” University of Pescara. He founded Giovanni Vaccarini Architetti in 1993.
Architecture is born from ideas, not from form; form is the outcome of the staging of these ideas. His office, a laboratory of research and experimentation with 25 years of experience, focuses its research on reaffirming the primacy of ideas over form. Research, design and construction are the components of the very same vision. Giovanni Vaccarini Architetti is currently designing the new soccer stadium for Pescara Calcio in Italy. With this project he was awarded the 2018 edition of The Plan Award, category: Sports and leisure. In 2017 the design for the new Headquarters of SPG Société Privée de Gérance was one of the winners of the Architizer Award. In 2016 was awarded the “Prix Bilan de l’Immobilier” in the “rénovation” category; He is recipient of the Iakov Chernikov prize at the 2015 Sofia Architecture Triennial in Bulgaria. Giovanni Vaccarini Architetti was one of the Italian firms selected for The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture. Curious by nature, Giovanni Vaccarini combines cultural, artistic, civil and economic endeavors. He is winner of national and international competitions, his projects and writings appear in major international architecture publications. He is father of four children and with his wife Giovanna lives and works in Pescara, Italia.
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© 2021
selected architecture 2000_2021