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Neapolitanizing Municipio- A Dance & Drama School Of Naples

Part 2 Project 2001
Gitte Sorensen
University of Bath | UK
The chosen site was a derelict industrial waste land, which was the main gateway of the city. This neglected 'gap' between the historical monuments; Castel Nuovo, Palazzo gardens and the Piazza Plebiscito was the missing link between the celebrations of the culture of the city. The introduction of a dance and drama school in Naples was to enrich the existing society and to recapture the past richness of the local history.

The concept of the building is two-fold; the journey is a procession celebrating the culture [ the historical monuments ] while intertwining the public and private functions of the building. The boldness of the proximity between existing and new, introduces a dynamic experience.

Gitte Sorensen


The combined project of these two students addresses the contemporary uses of urban space and the scale appropriate to a historic and living city. Their designs made a bold attempt to re-form and re-urbanise the central part of Naples in Italy, the Piazza Municipo and Piazza del Castello Nuovo in Naples, which have become neglected and abandoned as meaningful urban spaces.

Their specific concern was with the castle (castello), the municipal building (municipo), the sea front and harbour, the local urban fabric and the spaces in-between. They proposed the careful insertion of a number of city blocks, two of which they designed in detail. One student designed a dance school and the other a music complex.

The beauty of their projects is in the individual design of each building and in the design of the urban spaces between them. Their response to the scale and power of the castle is both sensitive and positive. Their intervention is subtle and modern, and it recharges - revivifies - an outdated urban environment.

2001
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