Design Report - Sedimenting Myth

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des i g n repo rt

(Ex) posing ground sedimenting myth in the cavern of mithra OANA Gavris & NAOMI wright s1871986

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University of Edinburgh MArch II (2019/2020) City Fragments: Neapolitan Porosities


figure 1// 'Cenetic gazebo' - Disassembled planes - Neil Spiller, Head of the School of Architecture and Construction, the University of Greenwich, UK.

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City Fragments: NEAPOLITAN porosities 'City Fragments: Neapolitan porosities is the second in a series of studios exploring cities and themes framed by the idea of the ‘fragment’. 'A fragment exists within an open series of pieces; it exists in relation to others, but retains its own agency. Thinking of the architecture of the fragment therefore involves understanding how something might simultaneously form relationships and operate independently; an architectural fragment is both in dialogue with other situations (through time and across space) and specific to a given situation. This twofold nature of the architectural fragment suggests a different way of thinking about the relationship of architecture to the city, one incompatible with the totalising visions of masterplans or planning diagrams. Instead, the city is understood as a complex arrangement of overlapping social, historical, political, cultural and material relations.' From this theoretical starting point, this thesis speculates upon sub-surface, hidden territories that aim to expose the narratives of Neapolitan 'ground'.

1. Chris French and Maria Mitsoula. City Fragments: Neapolitan Porosities: Guidebook, (Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture, 2019), 1. 2. French and Mitsoula, Guidebook, 1.

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prologue// Thesis Introduction


figure 2// Phlagrean fields to Mount Vesuvius

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Chapter Title / Subtitle Italic SEDIMENTING MYTH| 7


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The ground of Naples is constantly in flux. The surrounding volcanic area of Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei set ground shiftings in motion, putting the entire region under geological instability.

'As humans become more confident for will to shape the world, the preexisting background contexts that support these acts of will become less compelling.'

The 'consequence of an indifference to the ground is an amost terminal insensitivity to the rich subtleties of the teeming wild, the variegated forms and materials of the landscape, the nuanced patterns of urban texture and the rituals of the everyday.' We want to reclaim the dynamism between city and landscape.As we explore these potential fractures in our categorised conditions, we create our theatrical performance of the lost grounds.

Preface / Thesis Introduction

Exploring the city’s hidden territories and their junctures, we wanted to expose these (sub)surface narratives. This rich resource of ground(s) that determines city life, punctures through, exposing itself and as we travel deeper into the digital age, we tend to emancipate ourselves from the constraint of geography and geology, disregarding these punctures as anything other than loose threads in our urban fabric.

the ground. The ground is treated either as an infinite resource (e.g. tufo hills hollowed out to the point of grounds caving in) or as an inconvenience (removed to make room for new manufactured pieces in the urban fabric).

The constant state of geological unrest seems to be countered by a tendency to completely disregard 3. Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift, Cities Reimagining The Urban (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003). 4. Robin Dripps, "Groundwork", in Site Matters Design Concepts, Histories, And Strategies (New York: Routledge, 2005), 60.

figure 3// Vesuvius from Pallonetto

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'...background, temporal substrate mattered more than idealised, decontextualised landscape figures'5 figure 4// Placing value on the understanding of ground has always been a part of a larger cultural construct.

When we value this ground as a cultural product as well as a natural condition, the meaning of ground becomes exploratory; a process and a journey through time.

Preface / Thesis Introduction

'Late nineteenth century painters worked with a similar idea: their paintings revealed their interest in representing the structure, texture and meaning of the geomorphology and the natural history where background, temporal substrate mattered more than the idealised, decontextualized landscape figures.’6

'Cotopaxi' c.1862 Frederick Enwin Church

For centuries geology has always been the great myth. Ancient greek earthbased systems of belief, for example, were supported by the mystical lure of the unknown Later followed by poets, painters and storytellers who aimed to capture its beauty and magnificence through the medium of art. 5. Dripps, "Groundwork", 63. 6. Ibid.

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'This is the very stuff from which special moments emerge and distinguish themselves.'7 figure 5-7// The Seven Works of Mercy, The Flagellation of Christ & The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula c.1606 Caravaggio

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Chiascuro offers a parallel style to unearthing burried narratives. Much like the ground, layers of paint thicken a canvas whilst the painter forms flesh from the darkness. Black primes the top layer, releasing colour onto its surface. These paintings 'date back to 1606, when Caravaggio stood in Naples for the first time.'8

Much like our grounds , no colour or figure is awarded heirachy over another as the black trusts the light to reveal forms lurking beneath. And so we begin.

7. Dripps, "Groundwork", 60. 8. Paola Cirino, "Caravaggio: Three Neapolitan Masterpieces", Https://Www.Visitnaples.Eu/ En/Neapolitanity/Discover-Naples/CaravaggioThree-Neapolitan-Masterpieces, accessed 11 May 2020, https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/ neapolitanity/discover-naples/caravaggio-threeneapolitan-masterpieces. 9. Cirino, "Caravaggio".

Preface / Thesis Introduction

'The action is complex, agitated, there isn’t a true focus for the narration and the whole scene is defined by a strong chiaroscuro which emphasizes the divine light...'9

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

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b Unveiling the Seven Grounds. Originally drawn at 1:15000 PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

A landscape of potentials.

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Chapter Title / Subtitle Italic

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To create architectural drawings with the intention of recording porosity; we must allow ambiguity and elusivity to manifest. The act of translation becomes speculative as we draw from our intimate knowledge of techniques and materials and it is with lines that we start to suggest an architecture of layering and intensity. Unearthing the grounds takes the complexity of the landscape, thickened through time. Geological scales transcend from the active volcanic potential of the Campi Flegrei and Mount Vesuvius through to exposed cavern walls and theatrical setting, revealing an untold narrative of the extraordinary continental shiftings. This arcane ground is home to mythological narratives that still appear on street corners and pay homage to unexplained happenings and fables told through generations, held up by new manfactured grounds that are cut, chipped or discontinued to allow these creatures to surface. Our thesis uses the term 'ground' as a medium to expose conditions within the scales of geology, site, human (actor, writer, maker and observer) and pinned connections at a physical scale, to form proposed incisions along precarious datums.

10. Chris French and Maria Mitsoula, City Fragments, Neapolitan Porosities - Brief 02, 2020, 17.

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Preface / Thesis Introduction

'The ground of Naples is unstable.'10

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Navigating ground(s) -Catalogue of contents - Axis -What constitutes ground? The Five Acts -A theatrical introduction

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-Act I : Exposition -Act II : Rising -Act III : Climax -Act IV : Falling -Act V: Denouement

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EPILOGUE -Environmental considerations -[ Closing statement ]

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Biblography -Referenced sources

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images -Referenced sources

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Contents

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Prologue Thesis introduction

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Street Transect - Via Monte Di Dio

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Catalogue of contents Axis What constitutes ground?

Navigating ground(s)

navigating ground(s)//


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Navigating ground(s)

Topographical mesh exhibition installation.

‘A site posses a reassuring degree of certainty, whereas the ground is always in flux.’ 11 11. Dripps, "Groundwork", 61.

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system is intended to be demountable from the cavern 2. Soundproof panels inserted to existing (7m) arch openings 3. Stage Cover with tension rod cables anchoring to cavern wall. 4. Top part of the staircase and landing made from smooth concrete, the same as the middle part of the Manufactured raft piece. Bottom part made from black powder coated steel (to match the railings), signifying a new entrance. 5. Steel rods pinned to the existing cavern arches to support staircase from the side. 6. Existing cavern floor to remain uncovered

5. The ticket office itself is reminiscent of the eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius (Geological Ground). The heat from the eruption which destroyed Pompeii changed the local ochre paint to red. The cone of the ticket office is clad externally in 2x1m hammered copper sheets, with a brass finish1. internally. 6. Black aluminium powder coated perforated screen panels (1m wide panels are connected seamlessly) 7. Timber posts and pivot door 8. Paving: the same as route up to the ticket office: concrete tiles, made with Pozzolana cement 9. Black aluminium powder coated railings (both internally and for the ramp). The internal railings have a top balustrade made from dark stained local holly oak.

naviga ti n g gro u n d (s ) 1.

berately dark and mysterious, the Cavern of Mithra was originally used itual celebrations and the transmission of primordial knowledge. Accordto mythology, the deity Mithra is linked to cosmogony. A divinity born m a rock, Mithra was ordered by the god Sun to kill the Taurus, a white symbolising life. Reluctantly, Mithra took the Taurus to a cavern and lled his mission. The myth links this to the creation of celestial bodies Mithra’s cloak was transformed into the sky, the bull was metamored into the moon), leading to the creation of day and night, and subsetly, the creation of time. The Roman Mithraists interpreted the myth ugh the lens of Plato’s Cave. Mirroring the motif in Plato’s Republic, here well, the cave as the place of sacrifice represents an image of the world. idea is reflected in the project through the very nature of the space: a e for performance, of showing different images of the world.

7. Landing piece and first seating spaces (the only row of seats above the existing floor level) constructed from dark stained holly oak. The rest of the steps down and seats to be left as exposed Neapolitan Yellow Tuff. Seating cushions will be available for collections before performances start. 8. Existing columns cut short. New steel beams to carry load back (approximatively 8m) to new steel columns at the back. 9. Stage A: 30sqm. Stage pieces constructed from Mediterranean cypress (traditionally most commonly used for furniture pieces and musical instruments)

catalogue of contents 2.

10. Material Legend 1. Horizontal Charred Timber (local Holly Oak), 19mm x 19mm x 3600 mm 2. Vertical Timber Battens: Sourced from uprooted trees within existing landscape 3. External 360mm wall made from tufo reclaimed from the excavations for the project. Soundproof internal wall. 4. Stage made from from Mediterranean cypress boards (traditionally most commonly used for furniture pieces and musical instruments). Stage as Displaced Ground resting on pinned connections anchoring to the Excavated Ground below. 5. Steps made from volcanic trachyte extracted from the Campi Flegrei

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10. Landing made from volcanic trachyte extracted from the Campi Flegrei 11. Black aluminium powder coated cone marking the new cavern entrance 12. Central piece of the raft constructed from smooth concrete. Either side, the raft is covered in timber boards (dark stained holly oak) 13. Bar clad in light-grey volcanic stone, with inset copper strips.

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The Monaciello (m only to those who a beckons to them to through the tunne idea of the passa spectators through street to the Caver

Pin Connection Detail 1:20

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The [mythological] stage rests within and proud of the [excavated] shell of the rehearsal theatre.

Pin Connection Detail 1:20

SLOT 1.

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4.

E The myth to which Castel dell’Ovo owes its name refers to an egg hidden in its foundations. According to the story, if this egg were to break, the entire city

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS Sedimenting An object's motion through fluid forms in response to the forces acting on them. It is the act and termination of the settling process. Anchor A firm basis or foundation in which two grounds are interconnected.

Arrested Decay State of preservation where no attempt is made to improve a ruin, but rather to keep it from deteriorating any further. Porous A permeable edge allowing ground conditions to manifest across scales and axis'. Fracture A separation or visible deformation and directional discontinuity of ground where voids inhabit.

Navigating ground(s) / catalogue of contents

Reconnoitre To survey and inspect with the objective of requiring new information of a found ground.

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sedimenting Sedimenting the myth myth

The Three Anchors

axis

n av i gat i n g grou n d (s)

Castel Sant’Elmo

Caserma Nino Bixio

Scale 1:500 Castel Dell’Ovo Sea Level


+64.800 • Roof Plan +64.800 • Roof Plan

+52.600 • Mezzanine +52.600 • Mezzanine

Navigating ground(s) / axis

+47.500 • Ground Floor +47.500 • Ground Floor +45.500 Stage/orchestra +45.500 • Stage/orchestra

Via Monte Di Dio +43.200 Via Monte• Di Dio

+41.000 • Writers

+43.200 • +39.000 • Ramp & Writers

+30.000 • Tech Cave

+30.000• Tech Cave

+21.000 • Tech Mezzanine

+21.000 • Tech Mezzanine

+17.600 • High Ramp

+17.600 • High Ramp/Roof

+15.800 • Ticket Office +14.600 Entrance +14.600 • Above•ground +15.800 • Ticket Office +11.100 • Cavern Ground +11.100 • Cavern Ground

Via Morelli Via Domenico Domenico Morelli +4.800 +4.800

+8.000 • Stage Ground +8.000 • Stage Ground +4.800 • Urban Gesture +4.800 • Urban Gesture

+2.600• •Castel CastelDell’Ovo Dell’Ovo +2.600 +0.000• •Sea SeaLevel Level +0.000

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axis

n av i gat i n g grou n d (s)

Via Monte Di Dio +43.200

Via Domenico Morelli +4.800

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Navigating ground(s) / axis

figure 8// The ridge of Via Monte Di Dio"

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axis

n av i gat i n g groun d (s)

Via Monte Di Dio +43.200

Via Domenico Morelli +4.800

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Navigating ground(s) / axis

figures 9-11// Site Entrance from Via Domenico Morelli

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wh at c o n st i t u t es grou n d ?

glossary of ground Through investigation and speculation our definition of ground has deepened. The following is a glossary of conditions exposed at the Cavern of Mithra. When we talk about ground we must first talk about what it constitutes. The idea of ground and site are distinctly different. ‘A site’s edges are known and a centre can always be found. Connections to the world beyond are limited and tightly controlled. Sites can be owned. In other words, the site takes on many of the qualities of an institution.’12 We intend to own our site but not its ground. Through exploration and mediating between these grounds,we create a collective un-earthing.

12. Dripps, "Groundwork", 61.

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Navigating ground(s) / what constitutes ground? SEDIMENTING MYTH| 33


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mul t i - axis

wh at c o n st i t u t es grou n d ?


Navigating ground(s) / what constitutes ground?

'Sucessive layers of ground having distinct propoerties of geometry, dimension and alignment coexist in a dense sectional collage.'13

13. Dripps, "Site Matters", 68.

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gl ossary

We must be accomodate, reveal, respect and record.

wh at c o n st i t u t es grou n d ? 36 |

[geological ground] Mediating between volume and time that pre-dates humanity and the emergence of these grounds. On the surface we see this ground emerging as a layer that cycles between active and dormant but these layers are far more rooted than we can see. This ground can only be looked at in the past and future and still with vague certainty. This ground belongs to silent beasts that operate on a scale not recognisable to us.

figure 12// Crater exploration - Mount Vesuvius


Navigating ground(s) / what constitutes ground?

(Left)Horizontal section through site. (Centre) Vertical substrate section through the Cavern of Mithra.

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what const i t ut es grou n d ? glossary

[manufactured]

Much of the site rests on many cubic metres of excavated tufo. The cavern of Mithra, in itself primarily an Excavated Ground, contributes to this fragile state of the area. Traces of excavations can still be clearly discerned, with grip hook nooks and marks of chisels covering the cave’s walls.

Excavations were pushed to the limit, to the point where supporting structures had to be added to prevent the matter laying above from collapsing. Manufactured brick columns contrast the excavated tufo hollows. Manufactured Ground joins to the Excavated Ground, exposing the manmade constraints of height and ability of tackling the unforgiving topography of the Geological Ground.

From above, structures dig down into the ground. Existing foundations likely lie very close to the cavern’s ceiling. A new excavated volume allows the Prospective Ground to sink into the tufo layer. [displaced] New grounds are pushed out of their expected position: a new raft piece moves the cavern entrance 3m above its current ground. A layer of acoustic panels moves up and down, adapting to different performances.

Section B-B. Originally drawn at 1:200.

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Navigating ground(s) / what constitutes ground?

[excavated]


glos s a ry of grou nd ( s)

wh at c o n st i t u t es grou n d ?

[Mythological] Different myths are generated from and linked to the Neapolitan grounds: the Monaciello monk roaming passages excavated under the city, the screams of the Witch of Vesuvius linked to the volcanic activity. These are reinterpreted in the Prospective Ground in our selected site, the cavern of Mithra.

figure 13// The cavern in the 1890s. The dome of Santa Maria degli Angeli a Pizzofalcone by the Chiaia steps can be seen in the background.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the selected site itself has a mythological narrative at its origin. It is one of three sites where traces of the cult of Mithra were found in Naples (the other two being in the Crypta Neapolitana, in the archaeological area of Carminiello ai Mannesi).14 Caverns and excavations were the traditional places selected for the cult of Mithra. Deliberately dark and mysterious, these sites were used for ritual celebrations and the transmission of primordial knowledge.15

14. Eventinapoli.com, ‘’Naples, the city of the divinity Mithra’’, accessed 26 April 2020, https://eventinapoli.com/en/visit-naples/ walks/262-naples-the-city-of-the-divinity-mitra 15. Eventinapoli.com, ‘’Naples, the city of the divinity Mithra’’. 16. Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘’Mithraism’’, accessed 1 May 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mithraism#ref4912 17. Ibid.

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According to mythology, the deity Mithra is linked to cosmogony. A divinity born from a rock, Mithra was ordered by the god Sun to kill the Taurus, a white bull symbolising life. Reluctantly, Mithra took the Taurus to a cavern and fulfilled his mission.16 The myth links this to the creation of celestial bodies (e.g. Mithra’s cloak was transformed into the sky, the bull was metamorphosed into the moon), leading to the creation of day and night, and subsequently, the creation of time.17


Different myths are generated from and linked to the Neapolitan grounds: the Monaciello monk roaming passages excavated under the city, the screams of the Witch of Vesuvius linked to the volcanic activity etc. These are reinterpreted in the Prospective Ground in our selected site, the cavern of Mithra, located on the west side of Mount Echia. Perhaps most importantly, though, the selected site itself has a mythological narrative at its origin. It is one of three sites where traces of the cult of Mithra were found in Naples (the other two being in the Crypta Neapolitana, in the archaeological area of Carminiello ai Mannesi). Caverns and excavations were the traditional places selected for the cult of Mithra. Deliberately dark and mysterious, these sites were used for ritual celebrations and the transmission of primordial knowledge.

According to mythology, the deity Mithra is linked to cosmogony. A divinity born from a rock, Mithra was ordered by the god Sun to kill the Taurus, a white bull symbolising life. Reluctantly, Mithra took the Taurus to a cavern and fulfilled his mission. The myth links this to the creation of celestial bodies (e.g. Mithra’s cloak was transformed into the sky, the bull was metamorphosed into the moon), leading to the creation of day and night, and subsequently, the creation of time.

figure 14// The Roman Mithraists interpreted the myth through the lens of Plato’s Cave. Mirroring the motif in Plato’s Republic, here as well, the cave as the place of sacrifice represents an image of the world.

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what c onsti tu tes gro u nd ?


what const i t ut es grou n d ? boundar ies

As we take forward our defined grounds, we start to understand the multi-axis that centres them, disregarding time, lacking a sense of scale, we can see that there are no boundaries.

Typically these boundaries within the site have been political and manufactured. Borden states that fluidity within a city relies on these ‘boundaries’ to not be frontal and brutal in expression, not always challenging and confrontational to those who negotiate them.

figure 15// Fractured streets unerpinning Via Monte Di Dio.

High above manufactured ground, washing lines are strung together in a parade of valleys as inhabitants cross boundaries accesible only above first floor. As the street below claims its thick jagged territory, so does the street above, simultaneously working together.

Navigating ground(s) / what constitutes ground?

‘Boundaries mark social categories in space, inscribing edges of territory, possession, authority, association and even opinion.’18

18. "The Identities Of Our City Spaces, Like Those Of Its Inhabitants Should Be Multiple, Diverse And Dynamic, Energetic, Ephemeral And Hybrid", 'Scape, 2020, 64.

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If they can be malleable, stretched, contorted and skewed, perhaps boundary becomes opportunity after all?

Boundaries can be needed, come about spontaneously or due to an event, eliminated or just left alone. They can be temporal or consistent. 44 |

Exposing ground investigtion. Originally drawn at 1:200

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

This drawing initiated our investigation as to what these boundaries might be.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Boundaries might just seem that they hinder the playfulness of a city but, if acknowledged, they are a considered choice when moving through a space.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

‘Boundaries can be thick, complex, gentle, staged, gradual and even invisible, using scenography, texture, materials, technologies and all manner of modulations in order to suggest to city dwellers whether or not they should traverse a given boundary.’19

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

bou nd ar ies

wh at c o n st i t u t es grou n d ?

Everything within our site constitutes a form of boundary; from topography, infrastructure, constrictions and zones, social class or belief in the mythological stories and the investment into the narrative.


Navigating ground(s) / what constitutes ground?

‘Fluidity, not the creation of obstacles, is the key.’ 20 19. Dripps, "Groundwork, 75. 20. Dripps, "Groundwork", 63.

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bou nd ar ies

wh at c o n st i t u t es grou n d ?

'the rhizome operates in a space without boundaries and defies established categories...'21

'Rhizomes are organs of fundamental importance to plant competitiveness and invasiveness.’22 Our lateral and vertical traverse through this complex site creates a structural rhizome that punctures through ground with geological, mythological, displaced and manufactured necessity and collaboration. As we start to connect with these grounds, we orchestrate a certain playfulness with our relationship between natural and imposter. The real meets the myth, jurassic meets temporary, impervious encloses perforated and these conditions flirt with their fluctuating ground datum in which they chose to attach. ‘The life of the city should incorporate all manner of spaces where people can gyrate, glide and rotate, mime, perform and declaim, climb, descend and traverse - that is to say, where they can act out their opinions.’23 It is within these spaces that true theatre and art can be encouraged, celebrated, witnessed and heard.

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21. Adrian Parr, The Deleuze Dictionary Revised Edition (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), 237. 22. Cheol Seong Jang et al., "Functional Classification, Genomic Organization, Putatively Cis-Acting Regulatory Elements, And Relationship To Quantitative Trait Loci, Of Sorghum Genes With Rhizome-Enriched Expression", 2020. 23. Iain Borden, "Tactics For A Playful City", in Space Time Play, 1st ed. (Berlin: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, 2007), 332-334. 24. Parr, The Deleuze Dictionary Revised Edition, 237.


Illustration of the rhizomatus root structure of German Iris (Iris Germanica)

Navigating ground(s) / what constitutes ground?

figure 16//

'It ceaselessly connects and reconnects over fissures and gaps, deterritorialising and reterritorialising itself at once.'24 SEDIMENTING MYTH| 47


The Five Acts// A theatrical introduction

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The Five Acts / A theatrical introduction SEDIMENTING MYTH| 49


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t he atr i cal backgroun d

This rich historical background in theatre is also complemented by imaginary characters (such as Pulcinella) which have become representative for the Neapolitan theatre. This thesis focuses, however, not on the historical aspects, but on the current and potential innovative ways of seeing Neapolitan theatre. A key character in this journey is local artist Pasquale Della Monaco.

25. Triposo.com, ‘’Naples, Italy: Culture’’, accessed 29 April 2020, https://www.triposo.com/loc/Naples/ culture/background and 2. Triposo.com, ‘’Naples, Italy: Culture’’.

figure 17// Visual filmography taken from inside the residence of Pasquale Della Monaco.

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The Five Acts / A Introduction theatrical introduction

Naples has a long-established theatre tradition: it is the place where Sceneggiata was invented (a type of musical theatre)25, where the Commedia dell'arte evolved to a modern theatre genre1, and where Totò performed in his first theatrical comedies.

Resident in the Rampe di Pizzofalcone (or Ramp Lamont Young), Pasquale Della Monaco has transformed part of this home into a workshop, which we visited during our trip to Naples. Walls lined with theatre masks, paintings from the circus world, collages and etchings stand for the diversity of the artistic work he has produced.


T h eat ri c al b ack grou n d

Workshop location along the ramp elevation

figure 18// Pasquale Della Monaco’s residence and workshop inside the ramp (right).

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The Five Acts / A theatrical introduction SEDIMENTING MYTH| 53


t h eat ri c al b ack grou n d

“The return of the winged sirens”

1990, set on top of Mt. Echia. This play gives life to legends of the city. It translates dreams into the real world.

figures 19-21// Casa d'Arte Pasquale Della Monaco - 1970.

Pasquale’s theatre pieces have a strong connection to the physical setting where they are performed. They are not intended to be played in a ‘conventional’ theatre.

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“Falling in Love in Naples” (February 1995). Castel dell'Ovo can be seen in the background.

The Five Acts / A theatrical introduction

“Falling in Love in Naples” (February 1995) This theatrical piece transformed the sea front into a performance space.

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The Five Acts / Introduction

Images (from left to right): concerts inside the ramp (first image from March 2015, the rest are from older archives); concerts on top of buildings by Mt Echia in 2017; masks saved from past performances; play with the character Pulcinella; Blood on Utopia performance set up on 23 April 2016 in Piazza Plebiscito; article on the artwork with the circus world.

figures 22 & 23// Collection of works of Pasquale Della Monaco. Entrance to studio/workshop in the ramp.

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figure 24// Pascquale Della Monaco at his residence, Naples, October 2019.

58 |


The Five Acts / A theatrical introduction SEDIMENTING MYTH| 59


Sedimenting Myth in the Cavern of Mithra is composed of 5 Acts, as a reference to the theatre drama structure. The Acts expose eclectic ground conditions on the site located on the West 60 | side of Mt. Echia.


The Five Acts / A theatrical introduction SEDIMENTING MYTH| 61


Act I //

exposition

62 |


The Five Acts / Act I SEDIMENTING MYTH| 63


Act I The opening act sets up the story line, providing the reader with character and contextual background information.

64 |


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“To follow the twists and turns of the city […] and to precede along its winding streets is to register what, in reference to the silent cinema of the Neapolitan film director Elvira Notari, was disparagingly termed a ‘‘mad body language.’’ For here, one’s own uncertain trajectory and that of the illdefined urban corpus are mutually integrated and interrogated. The insistent physicality of the streets, daubed by decay and disregard, accompanied by the aggressive overspill of private effluence into public matters - from street rubbish to raised voices seeding a potential public drama - draws you into the city’s interior, transforming a walk in the street into an unscripted performance for all its participants.”26

26. Walter Benjamin, ‘’Naples: A Porous Modernity’’, in Mediterranean Crossings: The Politics of an Interrupted Modernity, ed. Iain Chambers (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2008): 74

figures 25 & 26//

66 |

The route from Via Domenico Morelli to the site selected for the theatre. Photos taken October, 2019.


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Precedent Study: staircase at the Olivetti Showroom

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The opening act sets the trajectory for theatre spectators. The ‘inviting step’27 of a public staircase draws people in from the lively Via Domenico Morelli. The staircase sets itself in the narrow leftover path between existing buildings, taking advantage of all the available space.

The act is intended to be carried out quickly. While there are opportunities for rest, a “prolonged stay is scarcely possible”28. Once the theatre participants make it to the top of the staircase, the trajectory is once again less clear.

The tectonic quality of the staircase takes inspiration from Carlo Scarpa’s work at The Olivetti Showroom. The steps are intended to look heavy, solidifying their presence in the existing context. Throughout naples, stairs have varied meanings not always abiding by classic definitions of displacement, but taking you through a journey within the ground.

While the theatre itself is not yet visible, a series of “furniture pieces” mark the route

Precariousness and unpredictability of the ground 'datum' splits the mind into conscious and subconscious; your gaze is directed upwards towards towering architecture and your feet are carefully predicting every step.

27. Alice Nickell, ‘’In the Steps of Scarpa’’, Building Material 20, no.1 (2016): 132. 28. Walter Benjamin and Asja Lacis, ‘’Naples’’, in Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings, ed. Peter Demetz (New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978): 173.

To move through these grounds it is important to establish a sympathetic means of traversing them. Our opening gesture constructs a relationship of temporality and of structural intent.

The Five Acts / Act I

The staircase expands and contracts to fit in its surroundings: where pockets of leftover space permit, landings are extended and the edges of the staircase form urban seats.

through the “mad body language” of the streets: a low level wall, a landing, a seat, all constructed from the same material as the staircase.

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figures 27-30// The Phlegraean Fields, footage from Journey to Italy (1954)

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In terms of materiality, the key pieces which mark the route through Act I make reference to the geological ground of the area. These are made from lava stone extracted from the Campi Flegrei.

The Five Acts / Act I

The light-grey trachyte proposed here was once used particularly for paving roads, but also for constructing pillars, column bases and detailing.29 It was also used for parts of the S. Francesco di Paola Church in Piazza del Plebiscito.30 Extracted at quarries in the Campi Flegrei (for example, at Cava Regia), this building material is extracted from a 55-60m thick layer of compact volcanic stone. As it is less common than other local stones (Neapolitan Yellow Tuff, Campanian Ignimbrite or Piperno), and more difficult to work , it is only proposed on select key pieces in the project.31

figure 31// S. Francesco di Paola Church Naples, October 2019.

29. “The geomaterials in the Neapolitan architecture”, Journal of the Virtual Explorer. Accessed April 22, 2020, https://virtualexplorer.com. au/article/2010/261/urban-geology-in-the-neapolitan-area/materials. html. 30.Alessio Langella et al, ‘’Lava stones from Neapolitan volcanic districts in the architecture of Campania region, Italy’’, Environmental Earth Sciences 59, no. 145 (2009): 145-60. 31. “The geomaterials in the Neapolitan architecture”

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A Phlegraean Fields The volcanically active region around Naples is known as the Campi Flegrei, or “Feiry Fields.” Part of this area was thought to be the “Gateway to the Underworld”.32 The staircase made with lava stone extracted from the Phlegraean Fields marks the starting point of the theatrical journey through Neapolitan grounds.

32. Jeff Matthews, ‘’Lake Averno’’, Naples: Life, Death and Miracles, accessed 1 November 2019, http://www.naplesldm.com/averno.php.

72 |


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Act II //

rising

74 |


The FiveAct ActsI / Exposition Act II SEDIMENTING MYTH| 75


Act II This act contains the inciting moment. An incident forces the protagonist to react, setting the story in motion. It requires resolution, producing narrative tension.

76 |


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The Ticket Office marks the second Act, setting the action in motion for the spectators who are traversing the Neapolitan grounds. These grounds are simultaneously contradicting each other as they move across the site, shifting on several visible and invisible terrains to produce another set of volumes linking all of these fragments of the past ground conditions to the present. A manufactured ground piece brings spectators to the Ticket Office. Here, the backdrop of Mt. Echia draws their gaze upwards to another ground level, that of buildings perched precariously on the cliff edge, seemingly unaware of the heavily excavated, unstable volume they rest on. The datum of the ground shifts once more stepping away from the ticket office on to the raft leading to the theatre. The ground becomes a matrix formed through hierarchies, structures and political and social codings and it is the people who are the constructors that become the powerful and stabilising datum.

78 |

figure 32// Layers of Grounds


Competing Grounds: lower ramp holding staff programmes (left) and upper raft as a public route (right).

The Five Acts / Act II

Schedule of accommodation 6

1. Ticket office 2. Reception 3. Boardroom 4. WC 5. Public information foyer 6. Waiting area

1

2

5 3 4

Ticket Office ground floor plan. Originally drawn at 1:250.

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"Edges and borders are held in place by movement through them. Movement, that instead of taking linearity as its model, will need to be rethought in terms of the presence of a divergent set of attractors creating eddies allowing for forms of occupation that will draw their force and have a pulse (though, in the end, it will be pulses) derived from a divergent set of sources."33

33. Benjamin, Porosity at the Edge, 115.

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Assembling the route out of Displaced Ground Components

HINGE: Ground Displacement closing the theatre entrance 82 |


Hinging on the side of the ticket office, the swing door represents, simultaneously, a boundary and a passage. When theatre are starting, the door opens up the path to the cavern, blocking access out. When access out of the area needs to be allowed, the path walking towards the cavern is shut.

The Five Acts / Act II ATTACH: Manufactured Ground pieces

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eri al l ora tTion A C T I I / mat MA TERI A L ex EXPp LORA I O NSs 84 |

Volcanic Activity The ticket office itself is reminiscent of the eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius. The heat from the eruption which destroyed Pompeii changed the local ochre paint to red.34 The cone of the ticket office is clad externally in hammered copper sheets, with a brass finish internally.


Chapter The FiveTitle Acts / Subtitle Act II Italic

34. Iker Marcaida, Maguregui, Fdez-Ortiz de Vallejuelo et al, In situ X-ray fluorescence-based method to differentiate among red ochre pigments and yellow ochre pigments thermally transformed to red pigments of wall paintings from Pompeii. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 409, 3853–3860 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0329-3

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H "Forse avra il Monaciello in casa" "Perhaps he has had the little Monk in his house". The Monaciello appears to people always at the dead of night, only to those who are in sorest need, after all human aid had failed. He gestures to follow him. If they have the courage to do so, he leads them through the tunnels to a concealed treasure.35 The act of following Monaciello through secret passageways is mimicked in the urban route through the ticket office and towards the theatre.

35. Encyclopedia.com, ‘’ The Monaciello’’, accessed 29 October 2019, https://www. encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopediasalmanacs-transcripts-and-maps/monaciello.

86 |


The Five Acts / Act II SEDIMENTING MYTH| 87


Act III //

climax

88 |


Chapter The FiveTitle Acts / Subtitle Act III Italic SEDIMENTING MYTH| 89


Act III Following the intrigue, the rising action follows the protagonist's attempt to find a resolution. This act also contains the point of the highest tension.

90 |


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92 |


figure 33// Traces of movement can be read on the cave wall: ladder-like hand and footholds are dug out of the tufo

The Five Acts / Act III

“Its principal building material is the yellow tufo, volcanic matter emerging out of the maritime depths and solidifying on contact with sea water. Transformed into habitation, this porous rock returns buildings to the dampness of their origins. In this dramatic encounter with the archaic elements (earth, air, fire and water) there already lies the incalculable extremes that co-ordinate the Neapolitan quotidian. The crumbling tufo, child of the violent marriage between volcano and sea, fire and water, is symptomatic of the unstable edifice that is the city.”36

36. Walter Benjamin, ‘’Naples: A Porous Modernity’’, 81.

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The cavern proposes a pact between programme and topography, exemplifying what Walter Benjamin noted: “What, elsewhere, is invariably forgotten and overlooked in Naples remains strikingly evident. Every city involves a pact, a settlement, between human occupation and the physical site in which it is located.”37 The entire cavern is dug out from tufo. Here, enveloped by the exposed volcanic rock, theatre spectators become aware of the vast hollowed out ground they inhabit. Spatiotemporal porosity becomes strikingly evident: layers are read on top of the man-made cavern, which was excavated when the Greeks founded Parthenope (what became Mt. Echia of Naples today)38. While actual traces of the manufacturing history of the cavern aren’t visible (the space was once used for rope-making), more recent ladderlike hand and footholds can be seen on the walls, from when workmen used to excavate and fix the cavern. Manufactured Ground layers were further added in the 1800s to prevent the cavern from collapsing: large columns support the tufo and buildings which rest above.39 A new architectural layer is added to open a new way for the theatrical, creative spirit of Naples today. 94 |

In this theatre space alone we are situated within a geologically charged enclosure, whilst an imposing ground rests part light and part embedded within its fabric. The act poses a question: Who exactly is our main character? Is it the cave? Is it the performance? The spectator? The ground? All of these main characters of our climatic narrative converge to create a multi dimensional point of view, serving only optical subjectivity. As in theatre and film40, our architecture is not dominated by a single character's perspective.

37. Walter Benjamin, ‘’Naples: A Porous Modernity’’: 81. 38. Jeff Matthews, “The Cavern of Mithra”, Naples: Life, Death and Miracles. Accessed 23 April 2020, http://www.naplesldm.com/Echia. php. 39. Ibid. 40. Alexander R Galloway, Gaming - Essays On Algorithmic Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), 43. 41. Serenella Iovino, "Bodies of Naples: A Journey in the Landscapes of Porosity" in Ecocriticism and Italy: Ecology, Resistance, and Liberation (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016), 100.


ground hollows as actors in the life of the city

Ground is an active character

The Five Acts / Act III

figure 34//

“Naples is founded on hollows, its bodies literally staying at the bottom of burning fields and living in houses and streets fabricated with volcanic rocks. […] These hollows have filtered for centuries the matter and emotions of the city above, participating in its life with their underground mineral agency.”41

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Section 96 | CC - Originally drawn at 1:200.


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ass e mb ly Tufo envelopes the entire third act. Here, the tufo cavern is treated as porous matter, capable of absorbing new pieces. The cavern “soaks up external elements while maintaining its initial form. It embodies and incorporates elements and external pressures.”42 New furniture pieces sediment themselves over and within the existing tufo enclosure. Staircases are pinned delicately to the cavern walls, not touching and only hovering above the ground. Raft-like walkways find their place inside the cavern, hanging or attaching to the manufactured columns, not coming in contact with any of the exposed tufo walls. Acoustic panels hover over the performance space. Mounted on electric hoists pinned into the ceiling of the

cavern, the entire space is intended to be demountable, returning the cavern to its ‘as found’ character. The stage itself embodies a new Displaced Ground. Constructed from pieces, it can be disassembled for maintenance and repair. At the start of performances, pieces are lowered into a copper frame which marks the stage. Manufactured from Mediterranean cypress pieces, the materiality of the stage contrasts to that of the tufo seating, drawing the spectator’s attention to the performance.

42. Walter Benjamin, ‘’Naples: A Porous Modernity’’: 81. 98 |


Exploded axonometric - Theatre

The Five Acts / Act III

EMBED: Assembling the stage

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Cavern Ground Floor Plan Scale 1:500

1

2

3

4 5 8 7

6

9

100 |


Possible stage configurations

This is the largest of the stage configurations, used for the bigger performances held in the cave.

Stage B// Can be either used as a stage in its own right, as theatre in the round or thrust stage, or it can double as an orchestra pit when Stage A is used.

Stage C// Used for the more intimate theatre performances, it can be used for 12-15 people in the audience.

The Five Acts / Act III

Stage A//

Schedule of accommodation: 1. Theatre 2. Technician's Tower 3. Cloakroom 4. WC 5. Plant Room 6. Staff Canteen 7. Kitchen 8. Storage 9. Bin Storage

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102 |

mat eri al t e st in g ex plor in g con n ect ion s t o t he grou nd


43. Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, “Arrested Decay”, Explore, accessed May 4, 2020, https://fcbstudios.com/explore/view/61.

Chapter Title / Subtitle Italic

Different types of connections are explored. The additions to the cavern are not meant to restore its condition, but rather, to embed itself and expose its fragility. The intention is to achieve a state of “arrested decay”43 - a coagulation, a stopped moment in the decaying process of the cavern. The aim is to expose the sedimented layers of the cavern’s history.

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ATTACH A method of connecting to a new heavy Manufactured Ground piece, which sits as a secondary lining to the tufo

PIN A thin, delicate connection to the Excavated tufo ground

104 |


Exploded axonometric - Technical Tower

The Five Acts / Act III SEDIMENTING MYTH| 105


106 |


explor in g con n ection methods

The Five Acts / Act III

Cavern model originally built at 1:100

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I The Cavern of Mithra A divinity born from a rock, Mithra was ordered by the god Sun to kill the Taurus, a white bull symbolising life. Reluctantly, Mithra took the Taurus to a cavern and fulfilled his mission. The myth links this to the creation of celestial bodies (e.g. Mithra’s cloak was transformed into the sky, the bull was metamorphosed into the moon), leading to the creation of time. The Roman Mithraists interpreted the myth through the lens of Plato’s Cave.44 Mirroring the motif in Plato’s Republic, here as well, the cave as the place of sacrifice represents an image of the world, brough to life through theatre.

44. Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘’Mithraism’’, accessed 1 May 2020, https://www.britannica. com/topic/Mithraism#ref4912

108 |


The Five Acts / Act III SEDIMENTING MYTH| 109


Act IV//

falling

110 |


Chapter The FiveTitle Acts / Subtitle Act IV Italic SEDIMENTING MYTH| 111


Act IV Scene I Momentum slows. The falling action is that part of the story in which the main part (the climax) has finished and you're heading to the conclusion. This is the calm after the tension of the climax.

112 |


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This act is composed of actor’s rehearsal spaces, broken up into “simultaneously animated theatres”45: a large auditorium, a music rehearsal room, as well as multiple small individual spaces embedded within the garden, from where voice or instrument rehearsals can be heard. Programmatically, internal spaces are set up specifically for theatre use, but the garden itself becomes more a theatre of soundscape. Each of the rehearsal pods embedded into the terrain have small openings into the garden, from where the sound is guided through landscaped pathways.

Rehearsal Space set within multiple layers of ground

The fourth act is set on the elevated ground plateau of Mt. Echia. Barely visible from eye level in Act II, and completely out of sight in Act III, a new building suddenly reveals itself. This Act is accessible from Via Monte di Dio, or from the cavern through the technician’s tower.

Schedule of accommodation:

45. Benjamin and Lacis, ‘’Naples’’,167.

114 |

1. Meeting room 2. Script reading room 3. Script collection nook 4. WCs 5. Actors rehearsal theatre 6. Orchestral rehearsal room 7. Orchestral rehearsal pods


The Five Acts / Act IV

1

2

3

4

7

5

6

N

Rehearsal Theatre Ground Floor Plan Originally drawn at 1:200

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(Above) Section through the rehearsal theatre. Oringally drawn at 1:200. (Right) Exploded axonometric. The Witch's Nest.

The new displaced stage rests within and proud of the excavated shell of the rehearsal theatre. The stage is made from Mediterranean cypress, a material traditionally used for instruments or furniture pieces.46 46. "Mediterranen Cypress | The Wood Database Lumber Identification (Softwood)", Wood-Database.Com, accessed 11 May 2020, https://www.wood-database.com/ mediterranen-cypress/. 116 |

SLOT


Embedded in the top surface soil, the witches nest aims to submerge this rehearsal space, fusing excavated ground with mythological. Like the cavern stage, one ground forms a mould in which the other accomodates.

The Five Acts / Act IV SEDIMENTING MYTH| 117


carving into ground(s)

mod el s

mat eri al te st in g

Working with three mediums we started to cut away at the existing ground (grey) and create pathways (white) of new ground.

118 |

figures 35-37// Studio workshop models, February 2020.Working between scales of 1:200 and 1:500.


The Five Acts / Act IV SEDIMENTING MYTH| 119


120 |


Piercing from both magma and theatre chamber, she screams, unabstructed and from great height.

Dripps looks at how modern history’s duration chosen to circumscribe particular historical events have been short as a consequence of our obsession and emphasis on war, catastrophe and destruction as these are bounded events that take little time.

The Five Acts / Act IV

We limit our scope when we look at ground without understanding the temporal circumscription of events that have taken place and will take place.

The Witch manifests herself as a modern folk tale as she reminds the people and the ground of the events that fundamentally shape this excavated and geological setting. figure 38// Vesuvius smouldering, Naples, October 2019

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G The Witch Of Vesuvius The legend personifies the screaming magma chamber from the 1858 emission. This dormer piece holds the stage for the lacerating cry that could be heard throughout Naples.47

47. Napolike.it, ‘’ Myths and legends of Naples: ghosts, mysteries and superstitions’’, accessed 14 November 2019, https://www.napolike.com/mitie-leggende-di-napoli .

122 |


The Five Acts / Act IV SEDIMENTING MYTH| 123


Act V //

denouement

124 |


Chapter The FiveTitle Acts / Subtitle Act V Italic SEDIMENTING MYTH| 125


Act V Conflict is resolved and the ending scene commences. Etymologically, the french word dénouement is derived from the word dénouer, 'to untie' or 'knot' in latin.48 It is the unrabeling or untying of the complexities of a plot.

48. Online Etymology Dictionary, s.v. “denouement”, accessed 5 May 2020, https:// www.etymonline.com/word/denouement.

126 |


SEDIMENTING MYTH| 127


figure 39//

The near vertical drop of Mt. Echia's cliff edge

128 |

“The city is craggy. Seen from a height not reached from by the cries from below […]it lies deserted in the dusk, grown into the rock.”49


The writers’ room is fitted at the top of the cliff, while individual writing pods are pinned back to the exposed tufo. Resting precariously on the side of the cliff, Act V looks back to the entrance and ticket office. Further in the distance, the bay of Naples will appear as a backdrop, a final theatre set before the curtain falls.

figure 40// Act V takes inspiration from the character of the streets of Pallonetto. Balconies hovering over the streets are translated into the writers’ workspaces.

The Five Acts / Act V

As the journey ends, another begins. The cycle of the play is much like the grounds it inhabits.

49. Benjamin and Lacis, ‘’Naples’’,167.

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ass e mb ly PIN The Prospective Ground is pinned back to the Geological tufo that makes up the most part of Mt Echia.

Axonometric view of the components of Act V (not to scale) 130 |


The Five Acts / Act V SEDIMENTING MYTH| 131


Section EE. Originally drawn at 1:200.

132 |


The Five Acts / Act V SEDIMENTING MYTH| 133


E Castel dell’Ovo The myth to which Castel dell’Ovo owes its name refers to an egg hidden in its foundations. According to the story, if this egg were to break, the entire city would collapse. The egg is said to be placed in an iron cage, hanging from an oak beam.50 The project puts a spin on this myth: highlighting the fragile nature of the Neapolitan ground, it sets new workspaces resting precariously on the cliff edge. Clad in charred timber, these are pinned back to the cliff edge through steel beams and columns.

50. Napolike.it, ‘’ Myths and legends of Naples: ghosts, mysteries and superstitions’’, accessed 14 November 2019, https://www.napolike.com/mitie-leggende-di-napoli .

134 |


The Five Acts / Act V SEDIMENTING MYTH| 135


136 |


Thesis closure

Epilogue / Thesis closure

epilogue//

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138 |


Epilogue/ Environmental considerations

Dense site material creates implications for all architecture(s) that embed themselves within them. These implications create scenarios which are overcome by carefully explored solutions. Each prospective ground is considered through the means of ventilation, acoustic qualitites, reuse of geological material, exposure, assembly and the extrapolation of conventional building components.

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Excavated

Displaced

Reuse of excavated material from the cavern minimises waste on site, for example the new tufo walls or cavern theatre seats seats.

Cavern stage pieces (A,B & C) are assembled in piecesas it’s more sustainable to replace only damaged parts, rather than the entire stage. The theatre ceiling houses adjustable acoustic panels that each have a top side to catch condensation and are also easily removable for any maintenance.

The sunken mass of cone base, in tufo, also keeps the space at a constant cool temperature.

Cones of the ticket office and rehearsal spac create a funnel for stack ventilation similar to the lifts that act as ventilation shafts. To the west side, the garden reading room has openable shutters for user comfort (daylight and ventilation) that also act as privacy screens. The rehearsal corridor is covered by thin, perfoated roofs that collects rainwater within chanels running down the angled portions to redirect water to garden planting.

140 |


Epilogue/ Environmental considerations

Manufactured

Geological

Paving pieces and steps to the cavern are from locally sourced material: concrete with Pozzolana cement.

A thickening of walls optimising the cooling characteristics of tufo walls created components like the orchestra pit walls in the garden and rehearsal space spaces to keep thermally cool and promote acoustic insulation.

Three windows in staff area are reoriented for better daylight exposure and maximum air flow. Ventilation is encouraged within this ground type through the orientation of timber walls for separate entrances at the ticket office and staff area and perforated screen acts as shading systems near the entrance

Pieces of locally sourced materials extracted to reform our urban staircase, landing to ticket office, seat in waiting area by lift, landing at the cavern entrance and steps from street to garden.

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Studio Exhibition Layout Isometric. Not to scale.

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'Does this journey bring us to any defined end? The fuzzieness and blurriness of the term porosity might just turn out to be its advantage. Clearly, it meets our desire for complexity,In this state of vagueness we may restart out exploration...'51

51. Sophie Wolfrum, Porous City : From Metaphor To Urban Agenda (Basel: Birkhauser, 2018), 11.

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B ib liogr ap hy

Books Amin, Ash, and Nigel Thrift. Cities Reimagining The Urban. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Benjamin, Walter and Asja Lacis. “Naples,” in Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings, ed. Peter Demetz (New York: Schocken Books, 2007 (1978)), 165-6. Borden, Iain. "Tactics For A Playful City", in Space Time Play, 1st ed. (Berlin: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, 2007), 332-334. Cheol Seong Jang et al. "Functional Classification, Genomic Organization, Putatively Cis-Acting Regulatory Elements, And Relationship To Quantitative Trait Loci, Of Sorghum Genes With Rhizome-Enriched Expression", 2020. Cortini, Massimo, Loredana Cilento and Alessandro Rullo. ”Vertical Ground Movements In The Campi Flegrei Caldera As A Chaotic Dynamic Phenomenon", Journal Of Volcanology And Geothermal Research 48, no. 1-2 (1991): 103-113, doi:10.1016/0377-0273(91)90036-y. Dripps, Robin. "Groundwork" in Site Matters - Design Concepts, Histories, And Strategies, 59-73. Carol J Burns and Andrea Kahn. New York: Routledge, 2005. 144 |

French, Chris and Maria Mitsoula. City Fragments: Neapolitan Porosities: Guidebook, 2019. French, Chris and Maria Mitsoula. City Fragments, Neapolitan Porosities - Brief 02, 2020. Galloway, Alexander R. Gaming - Essays On Algorithmic Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007). Marcaida, I., Maguregui, M., Fdez-Ortiz de Vallejuelo, S. et al. In situ X-ray fluorescence-based method to differentiate among red ochre pigments and yellow ochre pigments thermally transformed to red pigments of wall paintings from Pompeii. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 409, 3853–3860 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0329-3 "Mediterranen Cypress | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Softwood)". Wood-Database.Com. Accessed 11 May 2020. https://www.wood-database.com/mediterranencypress/. Parr, Adrian. The Deleuze Dictionary Revised Edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. Turner, Cathy. Dramaturgy And Architecture. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.


Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. “Arrested Decay”. Explore. Accessed May 4, 2020.

Magazines

Matthews, Jeff. "Naples Life,Death & Miracle". Naplesldm. com, 2008. http://www.naplesldm.com/Echia.php.

"The Identities Of Our City Spaces, Like Those Of Its Inhabitants Should Be Multiple, Diverse And Dynamic, Energetic, Ephemeral And Hybrid". 'Scape, 2020. Websites

Bibliography

Wolfrum, Sophie. Porous City : From Metaphor To Urban Agenda. Basel: Birkhauser, 2018, 8-11.

"The Geomaterials In The Neapolitan Architecture". Virtualexplorer.Com.Au, 2020. https://virtualexplorer.com. au/article/2010/261/urban-geology-in-the-neapolitan-area/ materials.html. 30.Alessio L.

Cirino, Paola. "Caravaggio: Three Neapolitan Masterpieces". Https://Www.Visitnaples.Eu/En/Neapolitanity/DiscoverNaples/Caravaggio-Three-Neapolitan-Masterpieces. Accessed 11 May 2020. https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/ discover-naples/caravaggio-three-neapolitan-masterpieces.

Triposo.com, ‘’Naples, Italy: Culture’’, accessed 29 April 2020, https://www.triposo.com/loc/Naples/culture/ background and 2. Triposo.com, ‘’Naples, Italy: Culture’’.

"Denouement | Origin And Meaning Of Denouement By Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.Com. Accessed 5 May 2020. https://www.etymonline.com/word/denouement.

Rossellini, Roberto. Journey To Italy. Film. Italy: Titanus, 1954.

Films

Eisenhour, Jerry. "What Is A Rhizome? | Demonstration Garden". Demonstration Garden, 2019. https://www. demonstrationgardenpcmg.org/what-is-a-rhizome/.

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I m age s o u rc e s

Figure 1. Woods, Lebbeus. "Spillers World". Lebbeus Woods, 2011. https://lebbeuswoods.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/spillersworld/. Figure 2. Image sourced from Google Earth. Edited by author.

Figure 15. Authors own. Figure 16. Eisenhour, Jerry. "What Is A Rhizome? | Demonstration Garden". Demonstration Garden, 2019. https:// www.demonstrationgardenpcmg.org/what-is-a-rhizome/. Edited by author.

Figure 3. Authors own. Figures 17-18. Authors own. Figure 4. Carr, Steve. "Pennsylvania Academy Of The Fine Arts' Exhibit On The Hudson River School". Archive. Schillerinstitute.Com, 2009. https://archive.schillerinstitute. com/educ/reviews/2009/hudson_river_school_exhibit.html. Figures 5-7. Cirino, Paola. "Caravaggio: Three Neapolitan Masterpieces". Https://Www.Visitnaples.Eu/En/Neapolitanity/ Discover-Naples/Caravaggio-Three-Neapolitan-Masterpieces. Accessed 11 May 2020. https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/ neapolitanity/discover-naples/caravaggio-three-neapolitanmasterpieces.

Figure 19. Facebook Page, accessed 5 May 2020, https://www.facebook.com/TeatroNelPiatto/photos/ pppbo.519182024758629/3103607146316091/?type=3&theater Figure 20. Facebook Page, accessed 5 May 2020, https://www. facebook.com/TeatroNelPiatto/photos/a.529134003763431/318 7440367932768/?type=3&theater Figure 21. Facebook Page, accessed 5 May 2020, https://www. facebook.com/TeatroNelPiatto/photos/a.529134003763431/318 7439574599514/?type=3&theater

Figures 8-12. Authors own. Figure 13. Jeff Matthews, The Cavern of Mithra, accessed 20 April, 2020. http://www.naplesldm.com/Echia.php Figure 14. Collage by author including images sourced from Jeff Matthews, The Cavern of Mithra, accessed 20 April, 2020. http://www.naplesldm.com/Echia.php. 146 |

Figure 22. Collection of works from Casa d'Arte Pasquale Della Monaco - dal 1970 Facebook Page, accessed 5 May 2020, https://www.facebook.com/TeatroNelPiatto/photos/a.52913400 3763431/957473624262798/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/TeatroNelPiatto/photos/a.52913400 3763431/1651019754908178/?type=3&theater


https://www.facebook.com/TeatroNelPiatto/photos/a.52913400 3763431/1686092208067599/?type=3&theater

Figures 23-26. Authors own from the residence of Pasquale Della Monaco, Naples, October 2019.

Image Sources

https://www.facebook.com/TeatroNelPiatto/photos/a.52913400 3763431/1194883227188502/?type=3&theater

Figures 27-30. Still images from the film ' Journey to Italy' (1954) Figures 31-38. Authors Own. Figure 39. Discesa del Calascione, Palazzi di Napoli, accessed 2 May 2020, http://www.palazzidinapoli.it/napoli-verticale/ discesa-del-calascione/. Edited by author. Figure 40. Authors own.

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M.Arch (Modular Pathway) 2019/20 Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture (ESALA) The University of Edinburgh Studio City Fragments: Neapolitan Porosities Tutors Chris French Maria Mitsoula

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