Eugenio Tibaldi's Shell: A Beach Club in Bacoli Merges Art and Design

Artist Eugenio Tibaldi collaborated with Luca Iannuzzi, owner of NABILAH beach club on Spiaggia Romana in Bacoli, Campania, to redesign the 300 sqm venue. The project, named Shell, features a shell-shaped tensile structure of steel, wood, and PVC covering 380 sqm. Tibaldi translated his artistic process into an informal design approach, creating a non-conventional environment that blends design, technology, and natural elements. The space includes a beach club, restaurant, and event area. Tibaldi and Iannuzzi have worked together since the early 2000s, with Iannuzzi previously funding Tibaldi's 2008 installation SUPERNATURAL. The design draws on the lido's founding year of 1956, evoking a "nostalgia for the future" with vintage geometries, 1950s cult objects in display cases, and materials that mimic others (e.g., construction planks treated like French parquet, gres tables resembling marble). The continuous glass walls blur indoor-outdoor boundaries. Custom furniture mixes original period pieces with Tibaldi's designs. The project aims to create a suspended, utopian atmosphere that challenges conventional beach club norms and has fostered a community around the venue.