The Castel Capuano and Porta Capuana mark the space between the Angevin and Aragonese city walls. These two urban artefacts are some of the last parts of these ancient walls. Working Walls: Negotiating (Im)Material Gates and Grounds explores these vestigial gates as sites of material negotiation with the city.
Where the walls at Porta Capuana worked with the surrounding swamps to protect the city, the gates provided a place of access, exchange, and control. Working Walls re-imagines these two historical operations—of separation and passage—as a new type of space for Naples, an extended interstice providing pathways for people, goods, animals, and water. The piazzas either side of Porta Capuana are stripped of their paving, releasing the soil beneath to re-seed the wetlands which once encased the gates.
