Department of Engineering, via Nuova Agnano

By Giovanni Menna

Located on the boundary between Fuorigrotta, Agnano and the eastern side of Bagnoli, just outside the 19th-century city layout, the building occupies an elongated wedge-shaped lot, whose front overlooks via nuova Agnano. The complex is the result of an agreement between the Giustino Group and the University of Naples Federico II, as part of a broader plan to rationalise and further develop the network of facilities belonging to the Polytechnic School of the Federico II. It was built on the basis of a 1999 project signed by architect Pasquale Manduca, who also supervised the work. It was completed in just eighteen months in 2001, when the building was inaugurated. The complex is divided into four buildings arranged in the shape of an isosceles trapezoid around a central space, with a north-south longitudinal axis and a smaller base housing the main entrance. The two most interesting characteristics of the complex are relational in nature: first, the centrality of the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces, with a crucial role given to greenery. While on the east side the building's engagement with the street is facilitated by a space conformed as a circular plaza, furnished with a fountain and supplemented by flower beds, the inner courtyard is half-covered: a forum for students and faculty to gather and meet and at the same time a hinge for the distribution of flows directed to the classrooms, which are arranged mostly on the ground floor. On the long sides, on the other hand, rows of trees act as a filter with the streets to the north and south, and finally, on the opposite side, to the west just outside the building, the clearing in front of the four-story building connects and integrates with other green areas, namely the two small public gardens (Totò Park and Flower Park) located immediately outside the lot. The complex is in essence at once isolated but integrated with green spaces within the confusing texture of the urban fragment in which it fits. The second characterizing aspect pertains to the importance assigned not only to meeting and social relation spaces within the complex, but also to the need to relate the university campus to the neighborhood, as shown, for example, by the aforementioned public square in front of an entrance cleverly set back from the street line. In fact, it should be pointed out that the area in which the complex is located, precisely by virtue of its marginality—as well as the presence in the area of railroad tracks—has never managed to be part of a coherent and rational urban design and has long remained in a condition of substantial decay. The construction of a university campus has made it possible to remove this critical issue by establishing a hub dedicated to knowledge and culture, which significantly encourages the development of sociality and the improvement of the overall quality of the neighborhood. A quality to which the architecture also contributes: devoid of particular and unnecessary expressive touches, the building intelligently exhibits an image of civilized decorum, which nonetheless does not fail to trigger suggestions through the choice of materials and finishes (travertine, gray peperino, artificial marbles, etc.) and the consequent chromatic solutions in the facings that exhibit a wide spectrum of tones, from ochre to light blue.

From the volume "Passeggiando per la Federico II" (second updated edition) edited by Alessandro Castagnaro - photographs by Roberto Fellicò - FedOAPress