Centro direzionale Metro Station

By Elisa Grossi - 13 December 2024

Italy’s first ever stretch of railway was built at the foot of Mount Vesuvius: Ferdinand II of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies, inaugurated the just-over-7 km-long double-track route from Naples to Granatello di Portici in 1839.

To enhance residents’ quality of life and restore beauty to the urban environment, nearly two centuries later, the rail transport network is once again playing a key role in a transformative process in Naples. Known as the “Triple A” (Art, Architecture, and Archaeology) project, the initiative encompasses a new metro line, underground stations along lines 1 and 6, and associated surface urban works.

Over the years, this major project has attracted internationally renowned architects of the caliber of Gae Aulenti, Mario Botta, Zaha Hadid, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Massimiliano Fuksas, Alessandro Mendini, Dominique Perrault, Boris Podrecca, Karim Rashid, Álvaro Siza, and Benedetta Tagliabue. Not only is it the largest infrastructure work in the Campania region, it is one of the most significant public architecture and art interventions the world has seen in the last 20 years. The project’s “Art Stations” showcase hundreds of site-specific contemporary artworks in real open-air museums throughout the city, along with artifacts unearthed during metro construction. One example: Fuksas redesigned the Duomo station during construction to incorporate the remains of a first-century CE Roman temple unearthed during excavations.

Designed by the Barcelona-based studio Miralles Tagliabue – EMBT Architects, the Centro Direzionale (Business Center) station in the Poggioreale district is one of the latest additions to this underground art and architecture collection. The building’s dramatic roof, described by the designer as a wave of “magma gushing up from underground”, features organic forms crafted from wood, a natural material par excellence....