Livorno Acquarium

Livorno, Italy 1995-2000

The new Livorno aquarium involves restructuring and adding new spaces to the old. It was built in the thirties and is located in the Terrazza Mascagni, that replaced the Piazza D'Armi square, built at the end of the XIX century. Piazza D'Armi was on a stretch of land artificially added to the coast and visually projecting into the sea. The historic building had the linear  elements of the architecture "protorazionalista" and it was "vessel shaped" to mark its presence as a point of connection between sea and land. The new part of the construction has a semicircular round and flat shape (83 meters diameter and 3.5 meters high) on which there is a glass tower that relates to the historical building. The new project seems to give up the relationship with the land in favor of the one with the sea. The original building is shown in the pictures below. Today the building is partially modified from the original project because of some changes initiated by its users. 

Gregotti Associati International; Maurizio Trovatelli project designer and project manager.

Photographs 1,2,3,4 and 5 by Donato Di Bello"