WILDLIFE MUSEUM FOR AGNANO CRATOR, NAPLES, ITALY
This new wildlife museum has a main purpose to raise awareness about wild animal species extinction. The site is inside the picturesque Agnano crater in Naples, Italy. The crater mostly forest with a lake at the base and is used today as a place of recreation and hiking.
MUSEUM’S ROLE
An important role of the wildlife museum is not only raise awareness of nature and man’s impact and threat to our environment, but also to strengthen the relationship between the visitors and nature. Extinction comes from creating an imbalance in the ecosystem so an understanding and appreciation for the local ecosystem is important.
SENSE OF PLACE
This museum takes inspiration from the crater itself and one of the inhabitants there today, the snake. Snakes like the warm humid micro climate next to the lake and it has been noted as far back as the sixteenth century, that the name of the area around the crater could be derived from the Latin word for snake ‘anguis’, “…due to the multitude of snakes that nestled among the ferns that surrounded the lake”. (source)
BOTH A BUILDING AND A BRIDGE
The museum sits on the west shore of the lake and like a coiled snake extends in a loop that connects as a bridge to the other side of the lake. The museum becomes both a building housing exhibitions and a bridge that brings people outdoors and over the water, giving a new experience with views to the lake and surrounding crater.
