NAPOLI D7 2012-2013
-Layered narratives of Napoli- D7
Maud Tisserant 2013
Michele Price
under-construction
KATHRYN PEDLEY
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DORIS QUEK
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SIMONE GRIMALDI
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ZOBIN
Death and the Layered City
Naples, November 2012
Napoli is a place where journeys and emotion come together to make a dramatically layered city. With a Roman urban grain reacting to the steep topography, the city is formed with narrow streets, alleyways and piazza’s filled with life. The community extend their private lives onto the street, and the sensory experience navigating around its nooks and crannies becomes enriched by the display of domestic rituals. Boundaries are blurred and territories are freely crossed.
In Napoli the celebration of death is part of their everyday, displayed on streets with objects, in traditions and through beliefs. There is a vagueness of the boundary between the living and the dead, which eases anxiety about death—in the contemporary world, an enormous and largely unspoken fear that stifles the range of thought and art. The Neapolitan ease with the dead reminds the living that they are part of a continuum, giving them the faith to believe that their own identity and their own endeavours will continue after they have passed on.
“A sense of past is essential to a sense of self. The self extends not only into the present material environment, but extends forward and backward in time. Possessions can be a rich repository of our past and act as stimuli for intentional as well as unintentional recollections. While few of us undertake as comprehensive a life history review as Proust, our memories constitute our lives; they are us. We fervently believe that our past is accumulated somewhere among the material artifacts our lives have touched--in our homes, our museums, and our cities. And we hope that if these objects can only be made to reveal their secrets, they will reveal the meanings and mystery of ourselves and our lives." Russell W. Belk, University of Uta, The role of possessions in constructing and maintaining a sense of past, [1990]
Michelle Price
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Napoli | Intimate , Distant .
Doris Quek
Napoli: Where Boundaries Become Obscure
interior/exterior, private/public, old/new
Before going to Naples I was interested in division of space. When I arrived there I realised that there are no boundaries, everything is merged together.
The architectural qualities that I found were the spaces in-between inside and outside; public and private. A great example of this condition were the interior courtyards, both public (like the one in Museo Delle Arti Sanitarie) or private, which most of the Neapolitan houses have. Other examples such as Galleria Umberto, temporary markets and groceries that extended onto the street show the lack of limits.
Private and public become one through inhabitation, possessions; people claim their territory in the public sphere with plants, furniture, images and religion. The opposite inevitably happens; when people extend their living rooms onto the street; they also leave their doors open, they interact and converse with neighbours passing by.
In Naples there are all kind of enclosures, interior courtyards, open doors, even the streets through occupation become interior, from emptiness they become volume. In the historic centre, especially in the Spanish Quarters everything seems to be balanced, through time the residents have transformed private and public space, according to their use.
In the historic centre ancient Greco-Roman building elements are part of 16th century houses; that have been through modern restoration or additions. Everywhere there are layers of materials, layers of history.
Naples is not something defined, it is a continuum; from the ancient Greek to the modern times; from the interior courtyard of a house on via Tribunali to the one of Pallazo Reale; from a busy street to an open door of a living room in Spagnoli Quartieri.
Natalia Dutton
The architectural qualities that I found were the spaces in-between inside and outside; public and private. A great example of this condition were the interior courtyards, both public (like the one in Museo Delle Arti Sanitarie) or private, which most of the Neapolitan houses have. Other examples such as Galleria Umberto, temporary markets and groceries that extended onto the street show the lack of limits.
Private and public become one through inhabitation, possessions; people claim their territory in the public sphere with plants, furniture, images and religion. The opposite inevitably happens; when people extend their living rooms onto the street; they also leave their doors open, they interact and converse with neighbours passing by.
In Naples there are all kind of enclosures, interior courtyards, open doors, even the streets through occupation become interior, from emptiness they become volume. In the historic centre, especially in the Spanish Quarters everything seems to be balanced, through time the residents have transformed private and public space, according to their use.
In the historic centre ancient Greco-Roman building elements are part of 16th century houses; that have been through modern restoration or additions. Everywhere there are layers of materials, layers of history.
Naples is not something defined, it is a continuum; from the ancient Greek to the modern times; from the interior courtyard of a house on via Tribunali to the one of Pallazo Reale; from a busy street to an open door of a living room in Spagnoli Quartieri.
Natalia Dutton
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Catholicism and Deprivation
Juxtaposing qualities of Naples. November, 2012.
“One of the most catholic cities in the world” – A Description of Napoli
“High rates of criminality and poverty” – A Description of Quartieri Spagnoli in Naples
These two quotes describe two extremes that depict Napoli. At one end of the spectrum one finds beautiful quiet churches that adorn almost every corner of the city. Witness a young lady dashing across the piazza, clutching her Bible, to reach the chapel in order to squeeze in a short prayer to mark the start of her day.
It is a place where you would not be hard pressed to find a lovingly lit altar occupied by Mary or her grown benevolent son Jesus. A place where a man will stop in the middle of a narrow street to observe a moment of silence in front of the image of God incarnate.
On the other side of the spectrum it is a place of struggle and erosion.
There you may see a man, his body, mind and soul worn out by poverty, destruction and chemical abuse. A woman who has been reduced to searching through overflowing waste bins and other debris for something to wear, eat or sell.
These scenes are framed by the characteristic crumbling walls of the cities renaissance buildings. Which although charming is indicative of something more sinister pointing to a hidden truth.
In spite of their contrast their dependency on each other remains paramount; a defining feature of Neapolitan culture.
Elizabeth Mitchell-Yankah
Napoli - The Lost City
Napoli, Nov 2012 - Bagnoli, Historical, Capri & More
Akash Chohan (Cash)
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Naples: Pauses and Breaks Within the City
Naples, November 2012
There is a fine line between order and chaos in Naples; signs of inhabitation are visible at every turn, balconies and makeshift washing lines litter the streets, cars and scooters a noisy intrusion and interruption on everyday life. Light is sparse as it gradually filters to street level intensifying a feeling of claustrophobia. Occasional breaks can be found with glimpses of private courtyards, peaceful roof terraces and in the countless churches that populate the city.
Studying Naples as a collection of spaces, in which a myriad of voids, niches and pockets of space permeate the city. My initial considerations are of pauses, breaks, and moments of calm and quiet against the busy and consistently noisy historic centre. Private claims on public space and the lucidity of these boundaries in the dense urban grain adds to the chaos of the city; there is a need for more spaces that allow for moments of reflection, contemplation and respite from the city, considering this idea in ‘the small space of a pause’.
Kathryn Pedley
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Napoli - A place of Dis-use/proportion/connection
Napoli, Italia - A photographic study of the ingredients to beautiful disaster 2012/13
Christopher Kalavashoti
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The Subconscious of the City
Vesuvius
Within the city lie inconspicuous elements that formulate the subconscious of Napoli. The subconscious exists within every entity of the city with intangible yet undeniable presence; be it within the walls of the historical district, the silhouette of Vesuvius, or in the life of a child residing in the Camorra driven Vele di Scampia. Yet these aspects remain never fully confronted and linger repressed in the soul of the city, possibly due to fear or perhaps simply due to the adaptation or purposeful ignorance of its people. With hesitation the subconscious of Napoli subtly leaves evidence of its being.
Within the constricted streets of the Quartieri Spagnoli the physically dominating Vesuvius unknowingly looms in the distance, blocked by the verticality of the city, resulting in an absence of visual connection. The existence of Vesuvius is lightly disregarded especially by the residents who dwell within the boundaries of the volcano. They talk of it as a distant memory waving to its location in the far distance, despite its peak only six hundred metres away and lava sediment directly beneath their feet.
Although they emit an overwhelming sense of detachment between themselves and the volcano itself, they subconsciously recognise its beauty in the form of appreciation and use; from its production of grapes, the rich soil, the water and its welcoming aura, to name a few. On the immediate surface the people of Ercolano disconnect themselves from the threat of Vesuvius and subconsciously attain an awareness by a gentle reminder in the fruits of its labour.
Esther Peyrovi
Within the constricted streets of the Quartieri Spagnoli the physically dominating Vesuvius unknowingly looms in the distance, blocked by the verticality of the city, resulting in an absence of visual connection. The existence of Vesuvius is lightly disregarded especially by the residents who dwell within the boundaries of the volcano. They talk of it as a distant memory waving to its location in the far distance, despite its peak only six hundred metres away and lava sediment directly beneath their feet.
Although they emit an overwhelming sense of detachment between themselves and the volcano itself, they subconsciously recognise its beauty in the form of appreciation and use; from its production of grapes, the rich soil, the water and its welcoming aura, to name a few. On the immediate surface the people of Ercolano disconnect themselves from the threat of Vesuvius and subconsciously attain an awareness by a gentle reminder in the fruits of its labour.
Esther Peyrovi
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Reflection
The time, experience and expectation
Calista Macey Oppon
Three points of view
No matter the scale you look at things, you will always find three points of view, because the people of Naples are of three different kinds.
Italy has a government split on three different levels. Each decision falls from the state to the region to the municipality. Great ideas are lost in the decisional process of Italy.
Urbanists have idealized the transformation of Naples three times in history. The first one was in 1938, then in 1972 and finally in 2002. The turn of the century brought to the approach of tackling Naples on three fronts: the green, the historical, the industrial.
Even buildings in Naples fall into three categories. There are the edifices built prior to 1800, then there are those built in the 19th century, lastly there are those built after 1899.
On a ride around the territory, one encounters the small allies full of life, culture, community. Not far from that are the peripheries with their problems, criminality, forgotten hopes. Couple of blocks out are the “rioni alti” with their historical villas, planned parks, coastal cliffs.
It doesn’t matter whether you live in the city, you cross it, or you have never been before. People will talk to you, they will open their homes, they will put a pot on the stove and make you burnt coffee. They will tell you their story, their own point of view.
There they are, in each corner of their city: the dreamers, the fighters, the disinterested.
Italy has a government split on three different levels. Each decision falls from the state to the region to the municipality. Great ideas are lost in the decisional process of Italy.
Urbanists have idealized the transformation of Naples three times in history. The first one was in 1938, then in 1972 and finally in 2002. The turn of the century brought to the approach of tackling Naples on three fronts: the green, the historical, the industrial.
Even buildings in Naples fall into three categories. There are the edifices built prior to 1800, then there are those built in the 19th century, lastly there are those built after 1899.
On a ride around the territory, one encounters the small allies full of life, culture, community. Not far from that are the peripheries with their problems, criminality, forgotten hopes. Couple of blocks out are the “rioni alti” with their historical villas, planned parks, coastal cliffs.
It doesn’t matter whether you live in the city, you cross it, or you have never been before. People will talk to you, they will open their homes, they will put a pot on the stove and make you burnt coffee. They will tell you their story, their own point of view.
There they are, in each corner of their city: the dreamers, the fighters, the disinterested.
Simona Grimaldi
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Qualities of a porous city
Napoli proudly stands in a unique site, threatening and powerful. The yellow sandstone of the buildings abrades, whereas the rock of the cliff is unalterable.
The Greeks had layered the original grid in a natural enclave. The built up fabric has grown out around the piazzas and streets. With time and inhabitation, the form has broken down and shifted but remains readable and confines within the memory of the old city wall.
While walking through the original narrow cuts, I can feel the weight of history, the continuous material accumulation and the coexistence of urban events, memories and historic fragments. In the alleyways, the local activities unfold alongside protected archaeological sites. A glimpse through a door and the white neon light reveals the polished universe of a steel workshop.
Constantly, building edges deepen, absorb public facts or extend their intimacy beyond the established boundary line.
I decide to enter the depth of one block.
Inside, everything becomes quiet and peaceful. It feels as taking a step to another world, behind the city scenes of the hard piazzas. It is still Naples, the scream of the loud scooters softened here, keep me awakened. Once inside the perennial courtyard, I found myself as a stranger, transgressing the secure moment to the private territory. This feeling vanishes after few seconds; I cannot see anyone.
In the evening, the flashing blue light of the TV slipped through the curtains of the remaining opening. It seems to be the last inhabitants of a tired day.
In a rare moment of stillness, I can finally extract myself from the fatigue of the street, contemplate the domestic and listen distantly to the echo of the protesting city.
The Greeks had layered the original grid in a natural enclave. The built up fabric has grown out around the piazzas and streets. With time and inhabitation, the form has broken down and shifted but remains readable and confines within the memory of the old city wall.
While walking through the original narrow cuts, I can feel the weight of history, the continuous material accumulation and the coexistence of urban events, memories and historic fragments. In the alleyways, the local activities unfold alongside protected archaeological sites. A glimpse through a door and the white neon light reveals the polished universe of a steel workshop.
Constantly, building edges deepen, absorb public facts or extend their intimacy beyond the established boundary line.
I decide to enter the depth of one block.
Inside, everything becomes quiet and peaceful. It feels as taking a step to another world, behind the city scenes of the hard piazzas. It is still Naples, the scream of the loud scooters softened here, keep me awakened. Once inside the perennial courtyard, I found myself as a stranger, transgressing the secure moment to the private territory. This feeling vanishes after few seconds; I cannot see anyone.
In the evening, the flashing blue light of the TV slipped through the curtains of the remaining opening. It seems to be the last inhabitants of a tired day.
In a rare moment of stillness, I can finally extract myself from the fatigue of the street, contemplate the domestic and listen distantly to the echo of the protesting city.
Maud Tisserant
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Naples a City of Two Tales
Naples a City of Two Tales.
The tall and narrow streets are overwhelming, Baroque buildings belittle and overshadow the inhabitants leaving one to feel lost, frantic, and highly alert amongst the surrounding disorder. I lose the sense of time as I wonder through a street overshadowed by towering apartment blocks. However, amongst the chaos and disorder I find myself being consumed by the city, engaged with a theatrical city constantly in motion. A city of culture, pace and personalities. As the late noon approaches the streets are filled, not with people but with zest. Our situation is heightened through our sense of smell. The reverberating city sounds diffuse and the alluring procession of aromas from Italian cuisines rise and voyage through the streets. One can easily be lead stray from such potent and compelling concoctions.
At nightfall the Neapolitan home becomes a stage, each lighting up the street. The stranger walks by and cannot resist looking in, peeping into one home to the next much like channel swapping with a remote controller. The locals are invited through this gateway; windows are frequently left open thus implementing a sensual connection between public and private spaces. Families can be seen and heard unwinding, laughing, arguing and conversing.
I escape the chaos and witness a different city of Naples. A city of tranquillity bestowed from centuries of urban renovation. Much of the cities beautiful spaces lay beyond the doors of the streets, hidden, waiting to be found.
Walter Benjamin describes the ‘aura’ as a “symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art.” The aura is a therefore a feeling experienced through our perception of place, this element stimulates a connection between mankind and the cosmos. This series of images focuses on places experienced that depict the aura of place through the medium of photography. Naples a city of two tales depicts the first, a city of chaos and activity lead by the lives of the inhabitants and the second, a city that flourishes with tranquility through spaces waiting to be experienced.
The tall and narrow streets are overwhelming, Baroque buildings belittle and overshadow the inhabitants leaving one to feel lost, frantic, and highly alert amongst the surrounding disorder. I lose the sense of time as I wonder through a street overshadowed by towering apartment blocks. However, amongst the chaos and disorder I find myself being consumed by the city, engaged with a theatrical city constantly in motion. A city of culture, pace and personalities. As the late noon approaches the streets are filled, not with people but with zest. Our situation is heightened through our sense of smell. The reverberating city sounds diffuse and the alluring procession of aromas from Italian cuisines rise and voyage through the streets. One can easily be lead stray from such potent and compelling concoctions.
At nightfall the Neapolitan home becomes a stage, each lighting up the street. The stranger walks by and cannot resist looking in, peeping into one home to the next much like channel swapping with a remote controller. The locals are invited through this gateway; windows are frequently left open thus implementing a sensual connection between public and private spaces. Families can be seen and heard unwinding, laughing, arguing and conversing.
I escape the chaos and witness a different city of Naples. A city of tranquillity bestowed from centuries of urban renovation. Much of the cities beautiful spaces lay beyond the doors of the streets, hidden, waiting to be found.
Walter Benjamin describes the ‘aura’ as a “symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art.” The aura is a therefore a feeling experienced through our perception of place, this element stimulates a connection between mankind and the cosmos. This series of images focuses on places experienced that depict the aura of place through the medium of photography. Naples a city of two tales depicts the first, a city of chaos and activity lead by the lives of the inhabitants and the second, a city that flourishes with tranquility through spaces waiting to be experienced.
Mitesh Patel
Ritual and Procession
The city of Naples is identified and celebrated by its rich and vibrant past. It is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world, a city that has been through twenty five centuries of growth and erosion.
The physical memories of the past are carefully conserved by UNESCO, they clean, restore and protect the city. These appointed guardians of the city control and construct the future growth and erosion of the city. The dictators of the past still remain…
The conservation of the urban fabric has meant that the urban rituals and the processions of the city continue to engrave into the minds of Neapolitans young and old. The mundane act of shopping down the narrow street of Scappanapoli, to the yearly procession of the Miracle of Saint Januarius are all relevant events in our understanding of this city. The images above refer to the daily rituals in Naples by mapping both growth and erosion. This was particularly important as it helps to illustrate how old and how relevant something is.
The questions that can be asked are:
Why are these urban rituals still relevant?
Are they a manifestation of the physical urban landscape or part of an intrinsic belief system or both?
Can a new ritual be created or can an already present ritual be added to?
The physical memories of the past are carefully conserved by UNESCO, they clean, restore and protect the city. These appointed guardians of the city control and construct the future growth and erosion of the city. The dictators of the past still remain…
The conservation of the urban fabric has meant that the urban rituals and the processions of the city continue to engrave into the minds of Neapolitans young and old. The mundane act of shopping down the narrow street of Scappanapoli, to the yearly procession of the Miracle of Saint Januarius are all relevant events in our understanding of this city. The images above refer to the daily rituals in Naples by mapping both growth and erosion. This was particularly important as it helps to illustrate how old and how relevant something is.
The questions that can be asked are:
Why are these urban rituals still relevant?
Are they a manifestation of the physical urban landscape or part of an intrinsic belief system or both?
Can a new ritual be created or can an already present ritual be added to?
Muzzammil Dadabhoy
Sense of Place
Sense of Place
Images of Bagnoli, Vele di Scampia and parts of Centro Storico that have been selected, depict the current state of conditions in those areas. Elements of these conditions coincide with my architectural idea, which looks at spaces that infuse human experience. This ‘Sense of Place’ is a concoction of transition, composition, scale, contrast, materiality, and confinement. I am interested in how this ‘Sense of Place’ can be formed with an architectural ambition.
The idea manifests on creating dramatic spaces of spatial qualities. The quality is found in creating a sense of place making one aware of their surroundings and its function. Some images you may see, such as the rubble or dark pathways, but within these images there lay significance. Bagnoli has been the forgotten place but there are still its characteristics that hold it together, such as it’s hidden historic features.
Transition is a dominant trait of Bagnoli, such as narrow spaces to a large opening, which form a journey that helps to distinguish a hierarchy in terms of spatial importance. This is represented in the image taken of Grotta di Seiano, a 1st century tunnel linking the Roman Villa Pausilypon to Pozzuoli. When looking at composition, it maybe concerned with openings and accesses that dictate how the space is experienced.
All these factors involve the relationship between spaces, how they interact, and a strategic appreciation for subtleness. These qualities create experiences that form self-fulfillment of the space in question.
Robert Beckles
Emptiness and the Presence of Absence
The Presence of Absence
Like moisture carried by the wind sweeping over the sea the presence of absence is found in the Neapolitan atmosphere, it sits waiting for the still observer to notice, subtly positioned between the slow paced rhythm of clothes fluttering over balconies and the roaring sound of motorbikes zipping through the streets. Its tone is like that of lovers taking in the views of the Vesuvius dominated horizon but preoccupied with each other’s company it speaks in hair raising whisper! Always manifesting in duality.
It is found there! In the tension between the lonely Fragments of industrial Memories yearning to be connected, Evoking a sacred in their scale and demina, lying dormant, sectioned, vaulted and hermetically sealed and that embracing native warmth so hospitable and welcoming to a visiting stranger.
The presence of absence is a neglected veiled layer retained in the rough texture of a door smoothed through contact overtime, or the timeless scribbles of then children and now grown men on the communal hall way wall of a worker’s home, the presence of absence is that desire carried by a small ankle high window flooding a basement with light and providing a sneaky peak into another space and it’s desire to belong and be part of the street…
Gassim Abdeldaim
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Points of Detachment
Napoli- Points of Detachment. Points of Disappearance. A Point of Isolation.
Bagnoli a little town West of Napoli once a dense and congested industrial bee-hive home to the Italsider steel mill and many other industrial pleasantries. Italsiders loading pier where decades of ships once unloaded ore and exported steel now remodeled to a pier extending out 1 kilometer out into the bay of Pozzuoli, leads a feeling you can almost touch the isle of Nisida within a truly fabled body of water. A place to escape reality cantilevering over the edge of Bagnoli framing the scape into a pictorial rendition. Points of Detachment.
The narrow, winding streets of historical Napoli reverberate with the sounds of impatient car horns, barking dogs and rat-a-tat-tatting scooters. Opulent Baroque churches and elegant piazza’s open onto a landscape covered over in graffiti, and locals in cafes who keep a close eye on their bags as they chatter over an aromatic coffee or indulge in a pizza. Under towering Vesuvius, the city has a feel of chaos, congestion, frenetic activity and leads a feeling of being lost. Beneath the espresso fueled disorder you discover the deep and ancient silence of a lost world: catacombs and caves, Roman roads and markets, aqueducts and early Christian burial sites of faded frescoes and mosaics. Points of Disappearance.
A layered city with its partially exposed history lends Napoli a haunting and mysterious quality. Slipping into a honeycombed underground and back through time is as easy as descending a flight of stairs or turning a corner. Within the boundaries of the lost city of Napoli there are points one is able to escape the city and look back in a moment of reflection. A place where Napolitans can detach from the complexities of the landscape and find solitude. A Point of Isolation.
Vanisha Varsani
Bagnoli a little town West of Napoli once a dense and congested industrial bee-hive home to the Italsider steel mill and many other industrial pleasantries. Italsiders loading pier where decades of ships once unloaded ore and exported steel now remodeled to a pier extending out 1 kilometer out into the bay of Pozzuoli, leads a feeling you can almost touch the isle of Nisida within a truly fabled body of water. A place to escape reality cantilevering over the edge of Bagnoli framing the scape into a pictorial rendition. Points of Detachment.
The narrow, winding streets of historical Napoli reverberate with the sounds of impatient car horns, barking dogs and rat-a-tat-tatting scooters. Opulent Baroque churches and elegant piazza’s open onto a landscape covered over in graffiti, and locals in cafes who keep a close eye on their bags as they chatter over an aromatic coffee or indulge in a pizza. Under towering Vesuvius, the city has a feel of chaos, congestion, frenetic activity and leads a feeling of being lost. Beneath the espresso fueled disorder you discover the deep and ancient silence of a lost world: catacombs and caves, Roman roads and markets, aqueducts and early Christian burial sites of faded frescoes and mosaics. Points of Disappearance.
A layered city with its partially exposed history lends Napoli a haunting and mysterious quality. Slipping into a honeycombed underground and back through time is as easy as descending a flight of stairs or turning a corner. Within the boundaries of the lost city of Napoli there are points one is able to escape the city and look back in a moment of reflection. A place where Napolitans can detach from the complexities of the landscape and find solitude. A Point of Isolation.
Vanisha Varsani
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Old city, contemporary living
Naples, Italy, 2012
Naples is a very old city; it started to be inhabited 2000 years BC. The formation of the city is built through the overlapping of multiple layers of grid from different period of time, some of the present streets and remaining buildings can be traced back to centuries ago.
The visit of Naples is focus on the centre of the city, the part which contains the most remaining debris of the ancient period. This part of the city has stopped expanding as it has almost no left-over space for further development, apart from the protecting policy by UNESCO. Buildings are highly dense, the streets are very narrow and they are all connected. The travelling journey can be various from one place to another.
It seems to be more accurate to describe the living here adapt the existing condition of the city. The passing of time results in the older the city, the newer the living of people. The extension of the territories to the streets subconsciously shows the urge to grow of the city, yet the existing grids and protected built forms limit them to a certain scale of living. The conflict between them occurs, and Neapolitans life goes on.
Zuo Bin Goh
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The visit of Naples is focus on the centre of the city, the part which contains the most remaining debris of the ancient period. This part of the city has stopped expanding as it has almost no left-over space for further development, apart from the protecting policy by UNESCO. Buildings are highly dense, the streets are very narrow and they are all connected. The travelling journey can be various from one place to another.
It seems to be more accurate to describe the living here adapt the existing condition of the city. The passing of time results in the older the city, the newer the living of people. The extension of the territories to the streets subconsciously shows the urge to grow of the city, yet the existing grids and protected built forms limit them to a certain scale of living. The conflict between them occurs, and Neapolitans life goes on.
Zuo Bin Goh
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The crossing sequence of time, space, and imagination
There were villas for vacation in Bagnoli in Roman time.
From early 20th century, there were developed as industrial site.
A lot of people's memories remain in this site.
Nowadays, there are just only some industrial ruins and polluted land.
That is a vast area of empty space.
But we can feel the memories with our imagination, when we experience the space.
The state of decaying of ruins makes us feel the sequence of the time.
And it stimulates our imagination not only for the past but also for the present and the future.
I feel the sense of decay and rebirth in my imagination.
It is emotional experience to feel the mysteries of nature.
Therefore, the process of decay is so fascinating and beautiful.
There is a dramatic sequence on the way to the heritage of the theatre neighbouring the industrial site.
Repeated gates seem like the way to another world.
There are materials, lights, sounds, and atmospheres that stimulate our imagination.
A variety of Imaginations are crossing on the way.
In the historical city site of Napoli, there are a variety of narrow paths
We happen to encounter some dramatic space and human activity.
There are expectations for the next space.
The contrast of the narrow dark path and unexpected dramatic scene fascinated me.
The paths are crossing intricately, so people would have their own sequence of experience.
Generally, most of materials in Napoli are eroded.
It reminds me the layered time and people activity as.
Textures are not controlled but extraordinarily rich because of the memories.
There is calm beauty of the process of decay as well.
“The crossing sequence of time, space, and imagination”
That is the architectural quality I found in Napoli.
Satoshi Ohashi
From early 20th century, there were developed as industrial site.
A lot of people's memories remain in this site.
Nowadays, there are just only some industrial ruins and polluted land.
That is a vast area of empty space.
But we can feel the memories with our imagination, when we experience the space.
The state of decaying of ruins makes us feel the sequence of the time.
And it stimulates our imagination not only for the past but also for the present and the future.
I feel the sense of decay and rebirth in my imagination.
It is emotional experience to feel the mysteries of nature.
Therefore, the process of decay is so fascinating and beautiful.
There is a dramatic sequence on the way to the heritage of the theatre neighbouring the industrial site.
Repeated gates seem like the way to another world.
There are materials, lights, sounds, and atmospheres that stimulate our imagination.
A variety of Imaginations are crossing on the way.
In the historical city site of Napoli, there are a variety of narrow paths
We happen to encounter some dramatic space and human activity.
There are expectations for the next space.
The contrast of the narrow dark path and unexpected dramatic scene fascinated me.
The paths are crossing intricately, so people would have their own sequence of experience.
Generally, most of materials in Napoli are eroded.
It reminds me the layered time and people activity as.
Textures are not controlled but extraordinarily rich because of the memories.
There is calm beauty of the process of decay as well.
“The crossing sequence of time, space, and imagination”
That is the architectural quality I found in Napoli.
Satoshi Ohashi
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Framing Time
Naples, Italy 2012
“See Naples and die”, now I understand the meaning of this phrase. The city completely changed my individual perception of it. The very first expression was madness of people and objects. It felt like there was no space for anything else, except what it was already. Really dense atmosphere but I did not mind it somehow and I even loved it. The fresh smell of washed clothes, delicious food and very welcomed people made me feel like home. I felt in love with the city from the first time I saw it but it did not take a long time to realize that this is a place with deep issues.
Mount Vesuvius is the heart of Campania region and an object of a huge amount of literature. It is the source of myth and romance, wealth and tragedy. People living in so-called ‘red zone’ feel safe and do not realize that the mountain in front of them is a sleeping monster volcano. They are relaxed as their ancestors. The land gives them heaven and hell. They call the slopes of Vesuvius ‘happy land’ because of its volcanic ash that provides rich soil suitable for producing wine grapes since Roman times as well as olives etcetera.
Framing Time is collection of journey of particular moments. Frames are compositions of people and objects in life situations. We are used to look at the world through frames and we frame something that is important. Frames accommodate change and movement as well as illusions of scale. Perhaps their best purpose is to frame intuition in time. The findings present the intuitive framed situations of my journey in Naples.
Mount Vesuvius is the heart of Campania region and an object of a huge amount of literature. It is the source of myth and romance, wealth and tragedy. People living in so-called ‘red zone’ feel safe and do not realize that the mountain in front of them is a sleeping monster volcano. They are relaxed as their ancestors. The land gives them heaven and hell. They call the slopes of Vesuvius ‘happy land’ because of its volcanic ash that provides rich soil suitable for producing wine grapes since Roman times as well as olives etcetera.
Framing Time is collection of journey of particular moments. Frames are compositions of people and objects in life situations. We are used to look at the world through frames and we frame something that is important. Frames accommodate change and movement as well as illusions of scale. Perhaps their best purpose is to frame intuition in time. The findings present the intuitive framed situations of my journey in Naples.
Gergana Yotova
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Land of Untold Relations
Matrix of relations between people, spilling bits of their lives through translucent screens onto the streets. Lines of fresh laundry initiating an informal dialogue between formal buildings. Excavated cities, exposing the past to the present, linking with the future by the question: will they be buried again? Or The Bay of Naples that through centuries has been bridging lands together.
All of those, and perhaps infinity of others, make this land so special, so unique.
Among many, a strong relation between people living in rural areas of Mount Vesuvius, and the soil of the volcanic slopes. The relation that is based on an act of cultivation. The volcanic soil is reach in minerals what allow the crops to grow better than in other places. On the hills, the fruits, the vegetables, are the the ones to be proud of.
The relation however, extends much more.
Fertile land bears fruit for Lacryma Christi wine, that is produced in Boscotrecase and exported further. The consumption occurs in Naples and neighboring areas as well as elsewhere, creating a profound connection between the Vesuvius and people living in the cities.
Ewelina Bogusz
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Coexistence
The Inwards Outwards in Napoli, November 2012
The Urban Fabric of the city is shaped by topography and religion, this gives to the Neapolitans a sense of community, identity and belonging; to the visitor, which dose not knows the city, a sense of orientation. The domes of Napoli highlight in its skyline, as if the city is a puzzle and the complex roofs are the key pieces which puts it together. They give to the citizen poles of relationship to location; to the space, a sense of privacy, concentration, calm and allows exclusive relation to the above.
By walking trough the Historical city I felt as if I was in a city carved out by time, having as a result the sculptural coexistence of cultures and different ways of living; represented by colours and smiles, layers of materials, light and history. The verticality of the buildings very close to each other and the horizontality of that long narrow street ("Scapanapoli"), make of form and density a predominant language of Napoli.
Although, it is a very dense city, and it feels chaotic to be around the centre, one can always find private courtyards which open to the streets with big arched doors and are in the middle of Private Housing, Boutiques, Galleries; they are often very quite, and peaceful. Therefore, it is also contrasting with the way people live in the streets, with how they relate to the stranger, exposing the inside of their very private spaces, loud and cheerful. I found this courtyards spaces show a different way of people relating to the city, and most important a place where Boundaries become secondary.
Just as the Horizontal and the Vertical, the Soft and the Sharp; the Interior and Exterior of specific places in Napoli juxtaposed different realities. It is fascinating and intriguing the way two completely different activities can happen at the same time in places next to each other, there is little intermedium, no threshold in between. Architecture in Napoli merges the perimeters for coexistence in density and emptiness.
By walking trough the Historical city I felt as if I was in a city carved out by time, having as a result the sculptural coexistence of cultures and different ways of living; represented by colours and smiles, layers of materials, light and history. The verticality of the buildings very close to each other and the horizontality of that long narrow street ("Scapanapoli"), make of form and density a predominant language of Napoli.
Although, it is a very dense city, and it feels chaotic to be around the centre, one can always find private courtyards which open to the streets with big arched doors and are in the middle of Private Housing, Boutiques, Galleries; they are often very quite, and peaceful. Therefore, it is also contrasting with the way people live in the streets, with how they relate to the stranger, exposing the inside of their very private spaces, loud and cheerful. I found this courtyards spaces show a different way of people relating to the city, and most important a place where Boundaries become secondary.
Just as the Horizontal and the Vertical, the Soft and the Sharp; the Interior and Exterior of specific places in Napoli juxtaposed different realities. It is fascinating and intriguing the way two completely different activities can happen at the same time in places next to each other, there is little intermedium, no threshold in between. Architecture in Napoli merges the perimeters for coexistence in density and emptiness.
Lucia Martinez
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Fixed & Flexible : Inhabitation of Space
Naples, November 2012
It is always about perspective, the way of experiencing a place through your senses.
The reality of what is around lies on fixed elements,such as building or streets,
but most important on the added temporal pieces which will affect the uses,the views,the feeling of the space.
Walking around Bagnoli worked as subversive factor to my perception.
People use what they have in different ways,
turning balconies into barber shops just by adding a chair and a few blades,
to feel fulfilled they take advantage of any available -free- space, leaving aside the neglected exteriors.
On the other hand, the former industrial area is incomplete;
left with the fixed factories of the past, reminding gone eras.
Here lies the emptiness; in the nostalgic feelings created by the landscape.
Few new installments, for instance the glass auditorium,contrast with the attitude of Bagnoli and its traditions,
splitting it in two different worlds.
The lost privacy is not the actual issue. Sharing activities is part of the Napolitan lifestyle.
Like they have nothing to fear or hide.
And they do, the non-fixed objects reveal the embarrassment of being normal.
Colour,texture,smells and noise complete the idea of chaos fighting emptiness.
As if awaiting for additional elements to be added and achieve the co-existence of the two.
The reality of what is around lies on fixed elements,such as building or streets,
but most important on the added temporal pieces which will affect the uses,the views,the feeling of the space.
Walking around Bagnoli worked as subversive factor to my perception.
People use what they have in different ways,
turning balconies into barber shops just by adding a chair and a few blades,
to feel fulfilled they take advantage of any available -free- space, leaving aside the neglected exteriors.
On the other hand, the former industrial area is incomplete;
left with the fixed factories of the past, reminding gone eras.
Here lies the emptiness; in the nostalgic feelings created by the landscape.
Few new installments, for instance the glass auditorium,contrast with the attitude of Bagnoli and its traditions,
splitting it in two different worlds.
The lost privacy is not the actual issue. Sharing activities is part of the Napolitan lifestyle.
Like they have nothing to fear or hide.
And they do, the non-fixed objects reveal the embarrassment of being normal.
Colour,texture,smells and noise complete the idea of chaos fighting emptiness.
As if awaiting for additional elements to be added and achieve the co-existence of the two.
Maria Karpozilou
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The Napoli Dialectic: Framing Fragments of the Sacred and the Profane
Farhat Hussain
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Napoli: The true capital
Naples, November 2012
The architectural qualities that I have found was how different they were from each other, outside of the city and the historical part of the city. The relation between the city and the greek myth was all around the town but I believe it is distinct experience to go there, to walk amidst and see the amazing contrast between the old and new buildings and its surroundings. In the photos that I have been taken, I was trying understand the city itself, the history, culture, people, young generation, and many other things that will be belonging to my future design. Walking down all around laid back but lively town in the narrow and cobblestoned streets full of amazing buildings, to see that each street with their special smell, people talk, to hear children screams and sound of motoring whizzing down a street, and musicians play... All those sounds gives you feelings to see people's habits and their life and to consider that is one of the oldest cities in the world, also it makes you feel explore the city more and more. Finding out ancient Greek aqueducts to pagan burial chambers, Christian catacombs to World War II trace all around. In the same time, I was trying to explore materials that they have been using in Naples, the city is built on tuff, a soft, volcanic stone. For the past 2,500 years, residents have made use of this tuff, from the ancient Greeks on up to today, by digging chambers and passageways beneath the city. Finally, within the spacial practice of modern society, people still need their own space to create to be free, so after exploring the city the question I had in my mind was 'what was missing in the empty spaces of the greek town?'...
Gulizar Sevin
Gulizar Sevin