Leavit won the corresponding architectural competition in 2003, when she was still a partner at Futche Systems; when she founded her own workshop, she took this project with her.
The customers wanted the station to act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the Triano area, which had long been neglected due to its isolation from urban infrastructure. Therefore, the project, in their opinion, had to combine functionality with the qualities of a real work of art - therefore, Kapoor's participation in it became key.
The authors were inspired by both the local landscape - in particular, the Vesuvius hanging over Naples as a reflection of deep geological processes on the Earth's surface, and inherited from the previous, unrealized project of the Monte Sant'Angelo station of concrete tunnels. These brutal spaces also evoked associations far from the technological and sterile appearance of most modern metro objects.
A vivid expression of such aesthetics is the ground-level pavilion of the University, located on the square overlooking the volcano. Its rock-like or lava-shaped volume will be sheathed with Corten steel sheets. The second exit of Monte Sant'Angelo is in a more traditional setting between mid-rise residential buildings, so its sleek, slightly elevated volume - in the tradition of Futche Systems - will be fitted with a shiny aluminum cladding.
