The transformation of a double bay on the Adriatic near Trieste: an abandoned quarry needed to be transformed into a site for a hotel and a swimming area. This large touristic ensemble, composed principally of an enormous hotel complex and a marina, is placed within a vast sixty hectare territory along the northern Adriatic sea, near the border with Slovenia. The project sought to take advantage of the small variance of tide present in the north Adriatic by creating a succession of pools in which the levels would fluctuate with the ebb and flow of the surf. A constructed landscape that varies continually, like a metaphor of the biological cycle.

Observing the Venetian lagoon nearby, along with the recollection of the old salt marshes that once existed around Trieste, led us to design the excavation work as a succession of pools, in which the tide could rise and fall. The last of these pools receives fresh water from a resurgence of an underground river at the foot of the cliff. Each day, the accumulated fresh water is released to help wash away the deposits brought in by the tide. This daily flow will establish a gradient of salinity across the pools, in which the particular flora of lagoon environments can grow.