The towers of Jesolo: the architects who created the Venetian luxury skyline

The towers of Jesolo were not born by chance. Behind the glass skyscrapers that today define the coastline of Jesolo Lido are some of the most important names in world architecture.

Author’s note, architect Federico Cappellina: I have watched these towers every summer for years. I saw Richard Meier’s Village under construction and had the owner explain it to me, piece by piece. I worked for a year and a half in New York in Peter Eisenman’s office, in the months of the 2002 competition for the World Trade Center site, entered together with Richard Meier’s office, Steven Holl and Charles Gwathmey. I design villas with the same vocabulary of white volumes, minimalism and light; I have not built in Jesolo yet, and I write about it as an architect who knows the place, not as an agency.

• Kenzo Tange’s master plan (1997) launched Jesolo’s vertical development
• Richard Meier designed the Jesolo Lido Village (240 units, 2003–2015) and the 85-metre Richard Meier Tower
• Carlos Ferrater designed the Aquileia Tower (2008, 22 floors, 84 apartments)
• Gonçalo Byrne, Aires Mateus, the Wave Towers and new projects complete the skyline; Zaha Hadid’s “Jesolo Magica” was never built
• Why Jesolo resembles the way architect Federico Cappellina designs (and why he has not built there yet)

The Jesolo towers originate from Kenzo Tange’s master plan

It all began with the urban vision of the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, a Pritzker Prize winner: the Master Plan drawn up in 1997 by Kenzo Tange Associates for the whole municipal territory, adopted by the Municipality as the guiding framework for the new zoning plan. It is a vertical development grid: it launched the idea of “recomposing the city in height”, allowing it to grow with order and identity and paving the way for major residential projects — a metropolitan approach that is rare in the Italian urban landscape.

Richard Meier: the white luxury district

New York architect Richard Meier is the face of the new Jesolo. His Jesolo Lido Village (240 residential units, built in three phases between 2003 and 2015 according to the Italian Ministry of Culture’s census of contemporary architecture) and the Richard Meier Tower — 85 metres, up to 25 floors, 83 residences with two exclusive penthouses — brought his unmistakable language of pure white volumes and glass facades to the coast. A square has been named after the master: recognition of an imprint that has redefined the city’s identity.

Carlos Ferrater: the Aquileia Tower

The Spaniard Carlos Ferrater, also an internationally renowned architect, designed the Aquileia Tower (2008): 22 floors, 84 prestigious apartments with large windows and panoramic terraces, conceived as a landmark visible from planes landing in Venice. It is also a useful reminder: ten years later, part of its apartments had ended up unsold at auction (Il Sole 24 Ore, 2018) — even signature towers answer to the market.

The other international names, and the Zaha Hadid project that never happened

The skyline is not only Meier and Ferrater. The Portuguese Gonçalo Byrne and João Nunes designed the Merville complex (2011): a 24-storey tower, six villas and a park. The Aires Mateus brothers designed I Giardini di Jesolo (2007), an architecture that sinks into the ground with green terraces instead of rising. And then there is the missing chapter: Jesolo Magica, the 38,000 m² retail, office and hotel centre by Zaha Hadid, presented in 2009–2010 and announced for 2014, definitively abandoned at the beginning of 2023 after investors withdrew. This too is part of Jesolo’s real story: not everything that was drawn was built.

The other towers of the skyline

Contributing to the skyline are the Wave Towers (two 24-story buildings, 144 units with a gym, swimming pool, and concierge), the Caribe Sunset Resort with its Caribbean-style villas, and new complexes on the way — The Beach Residences, VENICE25, Residence Tanabata — confirming Jesolo as the “city of a hundred construction sites.” You can find valuations and prices for penthouses in the guide on how much a luxury penthouse in Jesolo costs.

Why Jesolo resembles me (and why I have not built there yet)

by Federico Cappellina, architect

I come back to Jesolo every summer, on holiday, and every year I find it a little different: it is one of the few Italian cities you can read as a project in progress rather than a historic centre to preserve. I saw the Jesolo Lido Village being born: while it was under construction I went to talk to the owner, who explained the project to me piece by piece.

It also concerns me closely for a biographical reason. Before opening my studio in Verona I worked for a year and a half in New York, in the office of Peter Eisenman. In 2002 the office I worked in entered, together with those of Richard Meier, Steven Holl and Charles Gwathmey, the competition for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site with the “Memorial Square” project: we did not win — Daniel Libeskind was chosen — but I remember the reception in Meier’s office after the presentation, with all the offices of the team gathered in those rooms. Eisenman and Meier are two of the five architects of the book Five Architects (1972), the white architecture of pure volumes: when I walk along the seafront in front of the Village I find the same vocabulary I use in my villas — minimalism, essential volumes, natural light, proportion.

In all honesty it must be said clearly: I have not yet signed a project in Jesolo. My work is in Veneto and Lombardy. That is precisely why I follow it closely: it is a city where my language and that of the skyline coincide, and one of the places where I would like to build. If you wonder whether this market holds up, my answer, with data, is in Investing in Jesolo.

From the skyline to the bespoke project

The great towers of Jesolo tell the story of the city’s ambition; but luxury, on the scale of the individual residence, is played out through bespoke design. Whether it is a seafront villa, a panoramic penthouse, or the interiors of an apartment in the Design District, you need an architect for luxury villas and penthouses in Jesolo capable of translating contemporary language into tailored spaces. The Federico Cappellina studio designs luxury villas, penthouses, and residences in the Triveneto region with this sensitivity, from concept to interiors.

Want to translate the language of these towers into a bespoke residential project? The Federico Cappellina Architects studio can guide you from concept to construction.

Sources

• Municipality of Jesolo — SIT, Master Plan by Kenzo Tange Associates (1997)
• Italian Ministry of Culture — Census of Italian architecture since 1945: Jesolo Lido Village
• Artribune, “Il sogno di Jesolo”, December 2012 (Merville, I Giardini di Jesolo, Jesolo Magica)
• La Nuova Venezia, “No a Jesolo Magica: tramonta il progetto dell’archistar Hadid”, 1 January 2023
• Il Sole 24 Ore, “Nuova Jesolo, cento cantieri aperti e una torre in legno”, 12 November 2018
• Eisenman Architects — Memorial Square, World Trade Center (2002), with Richard Meier & Partners, Gwathmey Siegel, Steven Holl Architects