Architettura delle infrastrutture e identità portuali. Il caso studio della nuova stazione marittima di levante a Napoli

Abstract

The architecture of infrastructures and maritime identities

The urban design for the New Eastern Maritime Station adds an important methodological element to the experimentations on the refounding role of infrastructure Architecture in some Southern Ports. It demonstrates that the reconfiguration of the ‘relational fields’ of the urban landscape can involve the layout of the railways, usually considered non-modifiable barriers. Thanks to the involvement of RFI, a solution emerges that reconciles two conflicting scenarios: the expansion of the commercial port of Naples, the reconstruction of the relationship with the sea of the eastern district. The technical needs of the development of the intermodal node, the ‘urban demand’ of a waterfront capable of being representative of a district on a geographical scale together with the enhancement of existing equipment and the reconstruction of settlement memory, are summarized in an infrastructure architecture capable of modular spaces and seemingly antithetical needs, giving renewed character and identity to the area. This results in the re-foundation of a relationship of trust between architectural design and the contemporary city which finds in its making the roots and reasons for a genetic code to be interpreted and projected into the future.

Keywords: district, port, architecture, infrastructure, waterfront