Undisclosed
A historic tonnara in southern Sicily, reborn as a resort of the highest level
A historic tonnara in southern Sicily, reborn as a resort of the highest level. Art direction, CGI and 3D for a project in approval.
On the southern coast of Sicily stands a historic tonnara, today in a state of ruin. For an undisclosed client we handled the art direction, the CGI images, and the 3D modelling of a project that is currently going through its approval process, and that would bring this extraordinary site back to life. What makes it special is the ambition: a resort of the highest level that does not denature the existing, but grows out of it.
Our task was to give that vision a credible future. It was therefore essential to remain faithful to the landscape, to the materials we reproduced in CGI, and to the lighting conditions of the different moments of the day, the same light that will one day accompany the guests of this remarkable resort.
On the southern coast of Sicily, a historic tonnara in ruin. We handled art direction, CGI and 3D for a high-level resort that grows out of the existing, not over it.
01 Approach
The value of this project lies in what it preserves as much as in what it adds. The tonnara, a coastal typology with a long industrial history, keeps its spatial logic: the long halls, the piazza opening to the sea, the direct relationship between the buildings and the water. Our images had to show a future in which that identity survives intact, with the new resort settling into the existing structures rather than replacing them.
The value lies in what it preserves: the long halls, the piazza opening to the sea, the bond between buildings and water, with the resort settling into the existing structures.
Because the project is still moving through approval, the images also carry a diplomatic weight: they must convince institutions and stakeholders that an intervention of the highest level can respect a fragile place. Every frame was art directed to make that argument visually, before any words are spoken.
Still in approval, the images carry a diplomatic weight: they must convince institutions that a high-level intervention can respect a fragile place.
02 Fidelity
Fidelity was the discipline of this work. The landscape of the southern Sicilian coast was reconstructed with care, the stone, the plaster, and the weathered surfaces of the tonnara were reproduced in CGI from the real materials of the site, and nothing was polished beyond what the place itself allows. The 3D modelling went deep enough to keep the architecture believable at close range.
Fidelity was the discipline: the coast, the stone, plaster and weathered surfaces reproduced from the real materials, nothing polished beyond what the place allows.
The same care went into the lighting: we studied the conditions of the different moments of the day, from the clear morning light on the piazza to the long warm evenings by the pool. These are the atmospheres that will one day accompany the guests of the resort, and the images let you live them in advance.
The same care went into the light, from clear morning on the piazza to long warm evenings by the pool, the atmospheres future guests will live.
Full image set
