The Departments of Law and Humanities buildings

by Gemma Belli

In Via Nuova Marina, 33, corresponding to section VI of the Reconstruction Plan, surrounded by Via Ernesto Capocci, Vicolo Casciari alla Loggia, Vico I Piazza Larga, as well as Via Nuova Marina, in an area that even today remains fragmented within the urban fabric, stands the distinct reflective structure of the building housing the current departments of Law and Humanities Studies.
Conceived in 1993 by architect Gennaro Matacena (1945), with structural design assistance from Saverio Sapio (1948), the building adheres to the guidelines of the plan.
It features a low porticoed section that aligns with the lot perimeter, serving as a buffer between the street and the interior space.
Above this stands the volume of the tower, which lies decentralized on the base plate.
The smooth surfaces of the elevations all play on the alternation of two-colour registers and the opaque-transparent duality.
In fact, in the plate, destined for the classrooms, the transparent glass panels mark out a permeable band enclosed by a band of opaque aluminium slabs.
In contrast, in the tower reserved for the departments, the same opaque panelling both frames and emphasises the prominence of the volume at the top, also marking the vertical grooves that animate the shaft.
The colour play is excluded from the game on the pillars of the portico.
The pillars of the portico, covered with ochre-coloured stone slabs, break away from the colour scheme and mark the ground floor with greater emphasis, also thanks to a different grain and texture.
Situated along the seafront of Via Nuova Marina, the building constitutes an endeavour to experiment with the transition towards novel forms of expression, in which "form arises from the potential of technology" (D’Amato 2004, 547).

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