Restricted International Competition for the Design of Bagnoli (ILVA)

FINALIST

8TH PLACE / 40

Bagnoli is a unique site with no similar in the world. Bagnoli is an abandoned industrial site in the middle of a city overlooking the sea and it's spectacular sunset and it is a site of national interest for its historical, naturalistic and social-economics implications.

Derelict industrial buildings to be transformed, a brownfield seafront site to be remediated, an urban area to be reconnected and re-imagined, a waterfront and it's harbour to be renewed, an archaeological settlement where Lucio Licinio Lucullo had his home to be integrated into the proposal, a social infrastructure to be recreated and linked to the future.

All of that and more is Bagnoli and it makes the competition brief.

Social and Environmental Sustainability

Parks are often a big drain on local financial resources, therefore our proposal is about how to reverse this. If they only cost money then, there is risk in the long term. However, if you enter useful social functions in the park, it can constitute a well functioning organism in economic terms and societies expressing long-term benefits.

Stop thinking about maintenance cost and start recognising it as a ‘place for education’. Local people can be educated  and can develop a skill which gives the basis for future work as well as building a good relationship in between the park and the people of Naples and Bagnoli.

Today we have to think about parks this way to make sure they last. If they do good things then people love them and want them to develop and stay in their lives. And so a park become socially and environmental sustainable.

Concept

The key drivers

Element 1 - The wooded escarpment as a strong element sweeping into the site from the east and out to the headland.

Element 2 - The recognition that the concrete embankment must go and that this brings the opportunity of restoring or reforming the curve of the shoreline.

Element 3 – The sweeping curve in the upper middle of the site to link together the urban area of Bagnoli.

The result of this is a kind of triangle that offers an opportunity to think of a park which had two defined and major elements, the naturalistic or Natural Park and the cultivated, the latter meaning a parkland which is green but produces or Productive Park.

The Productive Park is based on the idea of the grid of the old industrial site with its hard logic together with the urban grid of Bagnoli. This system allows to preserve the industrial buildings and to re-use them for their cultural / historic value but also because it provides us with a way of thinking about the productive park as an urban park and how to make spaces for various activities in it.

A series of green rooms with urban fruit and vegetable gardens, orchards, educational spaces, food production as green houses, places for sport, places where the historic industrial structures can be appreciated sculpturally and all connected inside a fascinating grid layout which you can walk around in all its directions. What the site was offering us was an interesting and special kit of elements to play and compose with, to design the layout of the park. The grid is an important spatial organizer, like for the ancient center of Naples and Pompeii, is an element of connection with the context.

The industrial buildings have a social meaning to the area, many people are connected with them as their parents, their grandparents worked here and our proposal imagine for them to offer a new way of working in a sustainable, ecological and modern way and this forms our vision of the productive park.

The Natural Park originates from a very strong existing natural element, the wooded escarpment of Posillipo on the background. Here is where the re-functionalized Acciaeria, the new science museum and the new station will take place. The existing Porta del Parco is the entrance to the natural park and from here the proposal develops a new axis in direct connection with Bagnoli, leading the visitor deep into the park up to the Acciaieria, which becomes a place for music and culture, with an event stage both inside and outside. A new stage that ties to the recent history of the site, which was in the recent years used as the biggest outdoor music venue of Europe, making of this building the cultural catalyst of the masterplan.

With the removal of the old industrial concrete shipment platform and its 500,000 cubic meters of resulting landfill, we will build an artificial hill. The concrete embankment is removed, but ideally it is kept in place. Its negative impact that has had on the environment for years, in modifying the coastline and the sea currents, it turns into a meaningful and effective change for the whole territory. It will be visible from every part of the site and also from all the new visual axes envisaged by the project, as well as by the urban area of Bagnoli. A new natural landmark that celebrates the idea of ​​installing such a large park in this area. The long spiral path to the top leads to a belvedere from where it can be admired the surrounding landscape, the islands facing the bay and the breathtaking sunset. The hill will be planted with lavender which will give this new "object" a color and a strong scent characterizing it as a focal point

The sea lies lies 5m below what will be the park level. The project proposes a new waterfront equipped with with spa, restaurants and fitness clubs all within this five meters difference in height avoiding blocking the view of the sea from the park. The proposal brings the park down to the shore by creating a new gateway to the sea, La Porta del Mare, linking the existing seaside village to the new masterplan. The beach will be usable again by the city and its inhabitants and tourists, becoming a fantastic naturalistic terminal of the masterplan.

The masterplan