Napoli, Italy
The Napoli Porta Est project is the result of a multidisciplinary collaboration between a-fact, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), RINA Engineering, and PROAP Landscape Architecture. Together, the team proposes a large-scale urban regeneration strategy that transforms a fragmented infrastructural landscape into a new metropolitan gateway for the city of Naples. Positioned between the historic city, the Centro Direzionale, and the eastern industrial district, the site becomes a critical threshold where mobility, public space, and contemporary urban life converge. The project addresses a highly complex context, redefining infrastructure not as a barrier but as a catalyst for spatial continuity, social interaction, and urban identity.
The masterplan is conceived as an act of urban stitching, reconnecting discontinuous fabrics through a new spatial order capable of integrating contrasting morphologies, scales, and temporal layers. Infrastructure is reinterpreted as a generative framework for density, public space, and mixed-use development. At the core of the strategy is the consolidation of Naples’ primary intermodal hub, integrating high-speed rail, regional and metropolitan lines, road infrastructure, and pedestrian networks into a unified system. This concentration of mobility acts as a catalyst for regeneration, triggering new urban centralities and extending the city’s growth eastward.
The project is structured around a triangular generative matrix, derived from the geometric alignments of Garibaldi Station. This matrix becomes the organizing principle for the urban grid, guiding the disposition of buildings, open spaces, and circulation systems. The result is a coherent yet adaptable framework capable of mediating between the regular geometry of the historic city, the irregular patterns of the industrial fabric, and the infrastructural logic of the railway landscape.
Programmatically, the masterplan introduces a layered mix of uses: the transformation of former railway corridors into an urban boulevard; the redevelopment of the former freight yard into a productive and institutional district; a new residential neighborhood; and a large urban park conceived as a green infrastructure embedded within the metropolitan system.
Client:
Xxx
Location:
Napoli (IT)
Size:
00000 sqm
Program:
Masterplan
Status:
Competition
Year:
2025
Visual: Pixelflakes, Emmeworks
Project Team: SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), a-fact architecture factory, Corvino+Multari,
Rina Engineering, PROAP landscape architecture
