TAV Napoli-Afragola

Grand Tour’s rite of passage

GROSS. MAX, in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects, won in 2003 the international competition to design and build a new high-speed railway station outside Naples in Italy.

The station and open space proposals were inspired by the surrounding agricultural landscape and the need to define the interrelationship between traditional field pattern, large scale infrastructure and continuing urban development. The visual relationship between the Vesuvius Vulcano and the new High Speed Rail Station will allow for an unprecedented sense of arrival. The station will act not only as transport hub but also as a catalyst for a future urban node. The station building is envisioned as a sinuous bridge across the eight tracks. The bridge concept allows the creating of two strips of extended parkland alongside the tracks, opening and connecting the site with the surrounding landscape and with the new urban development. To further adapt the station to its context, it creates a belvedere with a view towards nearby Mount Vesuvius. For us this panoramic backdrop of Mount Vesuvius evokes a dramatic sublime landscape with reference to the “Grand Tour” when climbing the volcano to witness its volcanic activity was part of a young man’s rite of passage.

After initial delay, the station was inaugurated in 2017.