Elimination of physical and cognitive barriers at the Museum Center

The Museum Center for Natural and Physical Sciences of the University of Naples Federico II is renewing itself by increasing its cultural offerings through the enhancement of its collections and the expansion of the physical, cultural and cognitive accessibility of its premises.

After drawing up a Plan for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers (PEBA), which represents a strategic tool aimed at creating a gradual path of coordinated and programmed definition of the interventions to be carried out in order to achieve the overcoming of architectural and psychosensory barriers currently present within the museum structure, the Museum Centerin fundamental synergy and with the full support of the Building Area of the University of Frederick, has obtained a PNRR grant for the 'Removal of Physical and Cognitive Barriers in Museums, Libraries and Archives - NextGenerationEU.

The project proposal aims to reconfigure the ways of accessing, visiting and using the exhibition spaces of the Federiciano Museum Center, highlighting the high cultural value of the institution and mediating between the historical and artistic value of the 'container' building and the enormous scientific interest of its collections.

The project, for which the Director of the Museum Center, Professor Piergiulio Cappelletti, and project leader Professor Renata Picone are scientifically responsible, solves the physical accessibility of the Federiciani museums by identifying a new entrance via an access ramp connecting the courtyard to a new elevator and an elevator inserted within the existing stairwell, which will allow access to the four museums on the various levels.

The innovative access and elevator solution, conceived as a single technological-spatial system, gives the design intervention a strong identity, not compromising the essence of the pre-existence and capturing its most vibrant component.

The Museum Center will thus be able to guarantee a full democratization of its cultural offerings, solving its own critical fruition issues, renewing relations with the city's institutions and associations, and ensuring the widest possible degree of accessibility to any group of visitors.