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Topography of Time

Part 2 Project 2005
Timothy Smith
Daniel Jordan
 London Metropolitan University | UK
The present buildings oppose the grain of Naples, occupying rather than defining space. Inverting the building volumes about the existing facades creates a courtyard void which becomes "figurative, active and positively charged". Equally, the surrounding streets are given back their validity. The present structures can be seen as the precise opposite of what the site and city demand. Interior becomes exterior, exterior interior: yet the exterior retains its interiority by vitue of the retained footprint, and the interior receives an exteriority owing to the old facade. The facades become an archeological scenery providing physical and metaphorical intimacy with times past.


The unit focuses on specific locations with a particular interest in the actual process of constructing within a precise framework. Avoiding overbearing ideological constructs all students are required to formulate an architectural proposal as a direct response to a particular physical and cultural context.
By inverting the buildings, Timothy reverses the urban situation. His proposed new buildings define space where the previous (pavillion type) buildings occupied the site. This has been done with as much respect for the most recent layer of fabric as for the ancient morphology of the Historic Centre of Naples.
Tutor(s)
2005
Photographic project: Street in Spitalfields, London
3-Dimensional interpretation of photo: Photographic print on plaster cast relief
Buildings currently occupying site in Historic Centre of Naples
Site sections showing existing buildings
Public spaces and volumes are carved out of the solid of the city, places where the city's character is defined both spatially and culturally.
"If the Uffizi is Marseilles turned outside in, it is also void become figurative, active and positively charged" (Rowe). The present buildings can be seen as the precise opposite of what the site, and the city demand.
Existing facades remain as archeological fragments, the most recent layer of an ancient topography and a scenery for the project.
Existing facades are used as a mould for inverting the building volumes on the site.
Long sections through proposed building
When enclosed within a room the rather mundane architectural features of the facade become far more imposing; providing physical and metaphorical intimacy with times past.
Construction/Demolision sequence, avoiding temporary support and double loading of existing facade. This is the manifestation in engineering terms, of the inversion of mass on the site.
Engineering principle, junction of new floor with existing facade.
Entrance hall and Auditorium. The old facade is interpreted in various ways as the new building meets it.
Detail of new structure enclosing retained facade in new courtyard.
Pool hall sits between the facades of the two previous buildings. Exterior becomes an interior, with a distinct exteriority.
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