2004. Gianni Zuccon, the culture of the project.

Welcome to the special section “BAM 35 Years.” We are presenting “cult” articles from the Motor Boats archive, starting in 1990. A journey through time among stories unobtainable today, even in the great sea of the internet! A dive into the world of epic moments in motor boating. Here is one of the stories we were most passionate about.

Gianni Zuccon, the culture of the project.

From Boats by Motor 2004, no. 11, December/January, pp. 68-72.

Gianni Zuccon: architecture, boating, a special bond in life and work, the ability to always challenge oneself.

He knows the dimensions of every project by heart, so much so that he arouses envy in his co-workers. He visits the most important boat shows and wants to see all, yes really all, the new boats. Here is Gianni Zuccon today, the man who once, when asked to design boats, had opposed a flat no. Sometimes, however, you can’t look too hard. “My story is our story, the story of our lives, Gianni Zuccon and Paola Galeazzi.” Along with his work at the university, Zuccon began designing a city in Zaire with his wife Paola; then the oil crisis halted the project. It is an invitational competition that gets him into boating. The proposal comes from his friend Alcide Sculati on behalf of the Posillipo shipyard, which also wants to involve designers with no nautical experience. An invitation-only contest provides compensation to those who participate. “Those were difficult times.” Money was a convincing argument for Zuccon, who won the competition and was contacted by the shipyard: the prize consisted of the opportunity to build the boat, and Zuccon accepted on one condition: “to change some aspects of the design, because, in our opinion, we had to make a customized mass-produced product.” Thus was born the Technema 65, Zuccon ‘s first signature boat and, along with it, the first and long professional relationship. “I’ve always liked long relationships, where you accomplish something. I like to look back and see that I have built.” How to deny it? In addition to a 33-year marriage, the growth of Rome-based Studio Zuccon International Project, now with 25 collaborators working on boats, city and grand tour buses, minibuses, furniture, sometimes houses, the relationship with the European Space Agency with design and construction management of the architectural structure, plants, reinforced concrete, “because to do only one thing, I would get bored.” Among the collaborators, Paola Galeazzi has always played an important role. “In the beginning, when I was doing a project, I used a roll of tracing paper a day, I liked to draw. It was always Paola who told me to stop, to pursue the idea I had arrived at, because it was valid.”

Boats and technology

After a brief collaboration with Baglietto for Alfahedi, a 46-meter steel and aluminum yacht, in 1990 the relationship with Ferretti began. “Today I’m in charge of Custom Line (exteriors and interiors), for Bertram we made the new range, then with the acquisition of CRN I became one of the many designers who contribute to the creation of these large yachts. We are also working on the first boat of a new Apreamare line that we will see in 2005, while the gozzi remain with Tommaso Spadolini.” The future also includes an expansion of the headquarters. “We are introducing a new project, rapid prototyping inside the studio, to ensure maximum confidentiality, and the virtual room, what exists in the automotive field. I experimented with it in some dissertations at the Fiat Research Center in Pomigliano d’Arco (Elasis). The total control of the project involves a great economic commitment (several million euros), but computers today cost less, surface modelers in 1989 cost 135 million old liras, today 10,000 euros.”

University and culture

“Boating, barring catastrophic events, which we are learning to live with, should continue to develop. One of the most significant aspects in recent years has been the change in the relationship between the world of culture, universities and schools, and boating. The latter, except for the pioneering example of the school in La Spezia, was not present in universities, with the exception of a few cases. In the Faculty of Architecture in Rome, for many years I never mentioned that I was involved in boating. The underlying culture was not willing to accept an openness to a world it criticized. Times changed and I started doing things related to boating. The course in Industrial Design was a turning point.” Is it safe to believe that there is still room to grow? “In interior spaces, there is a lot to do and the changes are more evident, but the two fields cannot be separated. What happens inside the boat is dependent on the envelope. People’s culture, technology have changed, and now in contemporary architecture, lightness and transparency are sought. In boating, the exterior-interior relationship is experiencing a moment of rethinking, because there is a technical possibility to solve it in a different way.”

Habitability, transparency, flexibility

The latest plans seem to confirm this. “Gone is the time when the cabin was just the place to sleep. Even in homes there is no longer a clear separation between areas. The motoryacht evolves because the conditions of its use change. There are proposals that affect the behavior of people willing to change. There is more and more talk about habitability, transparency, flexibility. We are entering a phase where the most advanced industry is not the one that produces more, but the one that can produce better, customize the product for the same cost. The industry has acquired the culture of the craftsman and, through technological evolutions, is able to produce at the price of the series.” But what is the favorite activity for Gianni Zuccon?. “There is nothing I like more than anything else. I like the project. Always.” It may be hard to believe, but just reread what he wrote in 1978: “we distance ourselves from all those cultural positions that conceive design only as a purely formal fact, but believe instead in a concept of design as a true project reality.” We insist: what about between series and custom? “I like the world of series because it is easily controllable, the challenge with the market is fascinating, but custom is also compelling, it is the custom-made, hyper-curated suit, I suffer a lot from this fascination. Today we have technology which is a fundamental fact. In the future it will contribute more. We see it with glass. Five years ago no construction site, even a big one, could have afforded to make windows as big as we see today. The technology of adhesives and glass did not support us; now you can do incredible things. Then there is the big world of emotion, the design has become more and more complex, it is not true that the object is just the balance between form, technology and commercial aspects. Today, the more this synthesis can produce strong feelings, the better it works. Rationality is a prerequisite, but we can no longer talk about balanced, rational designs. It is not enough.”

Values and human relationships

“When I select a collaborator, in addition to the initial impression, I talk about other things, to understand the type of person. As is often the case, I spend most of my life in the studio and with the people I work with. I am convinced that on a nice person you can also build great expertise, on a bad person I don’t even try.” Opposed to specialization “because it kills creativity,” even though in order to meet the demands of construction sites, he is sometimes obliged to give the same task to those who have more practice and are quicker, Zuccon wants to “continue teaching at the university, doing architecture and industrial design,” because “the possibility of decanting experience in different fields makes people grow.” People, progress, are recurring themes for Zuccon, who, recalling a teaching he considers fundamental to moving forward, invites reflection on the role of the architect. “The whole history of architecture is a tale of building born from the relationship between the designer, on the one hand, and the prince (who was also the user), on the other. Today, on the other hand, there is a market (represented by the buyer), the designer and the prince (the owner of the site that is to build). It is the role of the prince that has changed. But today as then, without the prince nothing gets done. So then, how much of what we see is the designer’s design and how much is the designer’s who enables it? Perhaps the architect as Deus ex machina is outdated.”

by Gabriella Cottignoli

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