Napoli Porta Est

Napoli Porta Est is an urban regeneration project for the new headquarters of the Campania Region, integrating architecture, landscape and public space into the urban fabric of Naples.

The concept interprets the new Campania Region headquarters as a civic and landscape device, able to represent the institution while giving public space back to the city. At the core of the masterplan is a governmental building of about 60,000 sq m conceived as a new landmark: the People’s Castle, inspired in form and materials by Campania’s fortified architecture in a contemporary reinterpretation. Around the institutional volume, a system of about 50,000 sq m of housing, offices and mixed uses is arranged as an urban “village” to stitch the relationship with the context back together. Landscape is the connecting infrastructure: one kilometer of public green crosses the site and structures the Porta Est interchange node with five themed gardens inspired by Campania’s Mediterranean landscapes, defining a continuous and accessible public realm.
Principles from environmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience guided the design of public space and the Castle’s space planning, aiming to improve comfort, perception and the overall quality of people’s experience.