Università Station at Metropolitana di Napoli, Naples Subway Building, Italian Subway Project

Subway Station Naples : Metropolitana di Napoli

Naples Subway Station Building design by Karim Rashid in southern Italy, with Atelier Mendini

9 Aug 2011

Università Station at Metropolitana di Napoli

Designer: Karim Rashid

Architect of Record: Atelier Mendini

Photos : Iwan Baan

The University of Naples subway station is highly trafficked by a multi-cultural, academic community of thousands of passengers a day. For the station we designed a creative concept that communicates and embodies knowledge in the new digital age, language in the shrinking global landscape, innovation and mobility in this third technological revolution.

Naples is no longer a historic southern city of Italy but instead now is an integral intellectual information haven that extends itself throughout the rest of the world.

This is the changing Italy and Universita station is a metaphor of this new wired global condition. The concept integrates the station with its surroundings, as well as provides a platform for innovative, cutting-edge design strategy.

Entering into the station from the piazza the visitor will walk though a space clad with tiles, each one printed with new words created in this last century. Visitors will be impacted by the soft nature of the space, the striking palette of colors and patterns.

Along the back wall of the lobby level lenticular icons change color and perspective providing an interesting siteline as commuters proceed to the platforms below. Intersecting the space between the head profile benches is an abstracted, SYNPOSIS sculpture reflecting the nodes of the brain and the synapses which occur within.

When descending to the subway platforms via escalator the visitor experiences a transition from the busy piazza to a more intimate, focused environment. Various artworks and other graphic art serve as a focal point. These abstract images invoke the user to shape the environment according to his/her own creative interpretations. The platform steps feature abstracted portraits of Dante and Beatrice. The accent colors, lime and pink, indicates the direction and guide visitors through the descent to the final destination.

The platform level of the subway station is where the people spend the most static time. Seating is provided in the form of landscape forms. The walls of the subway platform feature backlit artwork, providing a continuous soft glow in the space. The digital artwork becomes “animated” through persistence of vision as commuters pass by on the train.

A subway station is a temporal, transitional space, yet the commuter is contained for a short period of time before continuing his/her journey. Our concept focuses on the commuter experience within the train station, and how the surrounding environment can serve as a respite in a day’s schedule. Globalove, Karim Rashid

Metro Station Naples – Building Information

Name of project: Università Station at Metropolitana di Napoli
Location: Naples, Italy
Principal Use: Multi level subway station
Client: Comune di Napoll (Municipality of Napoli) ; Metropolitana di Napoli S.p.a.
Floor area: 3,380 sqm
Design period: Dec 2005 – May 2008
Construction period: Gennaio 2000 – Gennaio 2010
Budget: € 10.000.000,00 (14.000.000$)

Subway Station Naples – Team

Designer: Karim Rashid
Project Manager: Camila Tariki, Karim Rashid Inc.
Architect of Record: Atelier Mendini (Alessandro and Francesco Mendini)
Project Manager: Andrea Balzari
Manager for Art Installations: Renaldo Fasanaro
Site Control & engineering: Napoli Metro Engineering S.r.l.

Photos: Iwan Baan for M.N. Metropolitana di Napoli S.p.A..

Location: Naples, Italy, southern Europe