Induced Stratification

This article will highlight the archaeological, architectural and environmental values in the oldest part of Naples, a place endowed with historic structures that clearly reveal the different languages, code-styles and eras of the city’s history. An orthogonal Greco-Roman road network and a series of cloistered convents constructed in the modern era characterize the urban fabric. The area was always animated by the presence of educational structures since the Greek gymnasia enlivened the city with their gyms and stadiums until the end of the classical age when education was relegated to the religious orders in convents and churches. As in all European cities, the history of cultural institutions in Naples is marked by a series of starts and stops beginning in 1224 when Frederick II founded the institution for the study of the legal arts and all other professions. After 1507, what later was to become the Federico II university found some degree of continuity and, even more importantly for our research, it succeeded in opening up to and integrating groups arriving from territories far beyond state borders. In 1724, Matteo Ripa, who had worked at the court of the Manchu Kangxi emperor, founded the Chinese College; its recognition in 1732 by Clement XII gave birth to what would later become L’Orientale, the University of Oriental Studies. This first period of multiculturalism continued and was manifested in the research developed at the University Federico II International Master in Design for the Historic City. Despite its advanced state of decay, the area is characterized by the unyielding endurance of human values. Through a research project for both knowledge and development, we sought to locate a university campus for multicultural studies in the Naples historic center using contemporary architectural interventions that communicate with existing historic structures, endowing them with value and keeping alive an urban fabric distinguished by tangible and intangible values.