The present buildings oppose the grain of Naples, occupying rather than defining space. Inverting the building volumes about the existing facades creates a courtyard void which becomes "figurative, active and positively charged". Equally, the surrounding streets are given back their validity. The present structures can be seen as the precise opposite of what the site and city demand. Interior becomes exterior, exterior interior: yet the exterior retains its interiority by vitue of the retained footprint, and the interior receives an exteriority owing to the old facade. The facades become an archeological scenery providing physical and metaphorical intimacy with times past.
Timothy Smith

The unit focuses on specific locations with a particular interest in the actual process of constructing within a precise framework. Avoiding overbearing ideological constructs all students are required to formulate an architectural proposal as a direct response to a particular physical and cultural context.
By inverting the buildings, Timothy reverses the urban situation. His proposed new buildings define space where the previous (pavillion type) buildings occupied the site. This has been done with as much respect for the most recent layer of fabric as for the ancient morphology of the Historic Centre of Naples.