Trabocco is an ancient “fishing machine”, typical of Adriatic Sea coastal area. It is made of wood and consists of a platform striving on the sea, anchored to the mainland through strong Aleppo pine logs. Two or more long arms – so-called antennas – run out from this dais, hanging a few meters above the sea and supporting a huge narrowmesh fishnet.
However trabocco lost these features and the main purpose it was designed for a long time ago, while it converted in veritable “rooms on the sea”. The design recovers the historical tradition of ancient trabocco, aiming to identify a new appearance for a new use. According to the principle of extreme simplicity, a continuous line follows and outlines the profile of the framework. Though changing the original function of the building, the design preserves a deep relation of visual penetrations between the sea and the “room”, throughout the wide glass wall towards the seaside. On the contrary, the side facing on to the dock is partially devoid of openings, which can be found instead on the part of front stepping back to receive the visitor towards the inside.
More austerity has been followed instead in the planning of the trabocco overlooking the canal harbour. This austerity hails from a preexisting construction, which remains an indelible symbol in collective consciousness of Abruzzo, although it lost its fascinating function of rudimentary fishing machine, also as Adriatic waters cannot always brush the supporting beams of the sophisticated “stilt house”. The Zero85 team chose a plain design, which makes this “à la Salvador Dalì” building a video camera watching undisturbed from the sea, in the same way as a poetic voyeur with the moist lights of the city of Pescara.
