The project for the G-beach Residence arises from the dialectical relationship between the existing building of the Hotel Bellevue, designed by Renzo Menegazzo in 1956 following the style of the Paulista school of Brazilian architecture of the time, and the surrounding pine forest. The existing hotel building takes as reference the Belo Horizonte library designed by Oscar Niemeyer in Brazil in 1955, incorporating its main features.
Facade handrails made of brick lattice, pilotis and trestles in concrete supporting the upper floors, the use of glass in the base area to give strength and lift to the upper body of the bedrooms framed by a strict orthogonal grid of deep loggias also in brick, the circular element serving the hotel aimed at giving greater plasticity to the entire composition born in the pine forest while avoiding the existing trees, all these features make the existing hotel building fascinating and determine the starting point that guided the design of the G-Beach residences. The G-Beach project therefore proposes a mimetic relationship between the two buildings in which one complements the other: the same contemporary materials (concrete and glass) and contextual materials (exposed brick already present as a finish on the facades of the Hotel Bellevue) are thus used.
From an urban planning perspective, the new structure is positioned on the plot perpendicular to the Bellevue Hotel on the east side, creating, through its elongated form stretching toward the beach, a courtyard, a more intimate space facing the sea, where all the residences and all the hotel bedrooms look out.
The relationship with the special location of the pine forest and with the existing building is determined by several elements that together characterize the new building.
The large windows on all the east, west, and south facades are designed to merge the internal spaces of the residences with the maritime context of the pine forest into a single space. A more enclosed section, completely clad in bricks—the 'tail' of the building to the north—relates to the east end of the Bellevue Hotel and creates the connection between the two structures.
On the top floor, the hanging terraces, accessible via the external metal stairs and all equipped with pergolas and shading awnings, offer a 360° view of the sea landscape, while the perimeter terraces and west-facing loggias, located next to the living rooms on the various floors, mediate the relationship with the landscape, creating a transitional space between the interior and exterior environments.
The building is surrounded by an external structure positioned along the perimeter of the cantilevered terraces, which mirrors the building's load-bearing structural framework, consisting of small pillars and prefabricated concrete beams that wrap around the three above-ground floors, creating a filter between the pine forest and the interior of the apartments. It also serves as the rhythmic division of the apartment units and as housing for the filtering curtains installed on the façade. Light plays a fundamental role: it filters through the dense pine forest and is shaped by the brick louvers, redefining the perception of the interior spaces throughout the day. In the basement, there are garages, and on the four above-ground floors, all the residences have views of the sea and the beach.
