Reconnecting the city’s fragmented urban fabric is the primary objective of Zaha Hadid Architects’ (ZHA) Napoli Porta Est masterplan proposal named winner of the design competition.
Project Name: Napoli Porta Est masterplan incorporating new Campania Region headquarters
Studio Name: Zaha Hadid Architects
This area in the east of Naples suffers from the lack of integration of its urban fabric, resulting in the detachment from the rest of the city. Isolated and considered unsafe, the district’s inadequate public spaces, as well as its physical and psychological barriers, hinder mobility and social interaction.
The masterplan encompasses the eastern areas of Naples specifically impacted by the
decommissioning of its heavy industries over past decades. Encouraging the sustainable and resilient urban transformation of the city’s derelict industrial zone, the masterplan introduces infrastructure capable of adaptation, as well as the creation of a new urban park and the reclamation of the disused railway yards for public use.
Resolving the significant traffic congestion at one of the city’s primary interchanges that serves as a gateway to the Italian national transport network, ZHA’s design unlocks the potential to reconnect the east of the city with the historic centre of Naples.
Removing the barrier created by the redundant railyards, the masterplan enables the 30+
hectares of abandoned industrial buildings, including the former Manifattura Tabacchi factory and other derelict buildings in the Feltrinelli industrial zone, to be transformed for use by residents of the city.
ZHA’s proposal also offers additional opportunities for the city by enabling the future conversion of a further 100+ hectares of the district’s obsolete Q8 oil depot into a new city quarter with civic spaces and amenities for its local community.
The Napoli Porta Est Masterplan international design competition was organised by the Campania Region together with Naples City Council, FS Sistemi Urbani (the regeneration group of RFI Italian national railways), and the train operator EAV.
