Vigo Coastal Urban Domain

Description

Seafront Promenadeway: Project 1995-1996 Construction 1997-1998Ría Station: Project 1995-1998 Construction 2000-2001Plaza del Berbés: Project 1995-1998 Construction 2001-2003Plaza de la Estrella: Project 1997-1998 Construction 2002-2004Our intervention stems from the Plaza de la Estrella and extends until the Plaza del Berbes, the ancient seaport of the city. The Plaza de la Estrella is nowadays shaped by the back sides of four institutional buildings. The entrance of the traffic tunnel constitutes the eastern edge of the square, being the only front without building. In order to minimize the impact caused by the entrance to the tunnel we propose the construction of an element in form of a zig-zag, a grandstand that breaks between the trees and formalizes an elevated terrace in which we situate a café/restaurant.  In the meeting point between the gardens of Elduayen and the sea, we plan a building which form of U initiates with a large ramp that softly ascends until reaching the level of a vantage area on the dock of the Laxe. A grandstand appears to the harbour’s area, searching to formalize that intense relationship between the sea and the city. In the inside, the building contains the station of Ría, the tourist office, a cafeteria and a restaurant: elements organized around a wide central space, a common hall illuminated by a large skylight.For the maritime promenade and Gardens of Elduayen, the proposal forms new pedestrian spaces, and establishes a hierarchy between paths and plazas by redimensioning the width and capacity of the old pathways, proposing a vigorous new image and offering the city a series of diverse yet unified exterior spaces.At the ends of the garden are two small structures. An entry pavilion is located at one end, camouflaging the tunnel’s and parking garage’s exhaust pipes and ventilation stalls. A great roof rests on these emerging structures, creating a new entry space and covered plaza containing a newspaper and flower stand. A lateral pond resolves the return air of the ventilation of the tunnel through a longitudinal groove that divides the surface of the water. At the opposite end two floors of existing tunnel installations cause a series of elements to rise above the surface which needed to be controlled: chimneys for emergency generators, tunnel ventilators, parking garage entries, machine access panels, etc. They are elements which need to take in clean and contaminated air. They are like gills for these buried artefacts.  A series of louvered elements made of concrete and covered with aluminum aligned along the platform resolve the problem of housing the installations and at the same time define urban spaces. A light pergola covers all of these pieces, unifying the complex and acting as the portico for access to the garden. The intervention is completed with the construction of a fountain of 30 metres in diameter in the traffic circle of Areal, a control booth for access to the port area, and the vertical cladding of the access ramps to the tunnel of Beiramar. All of these constructions use Corten steel as the primary material.In all of these interventions, as well as in the design of the urban furniture that were produced specifically for the maritime promenade such as street lamps, benches, waste baskets, tree bases, etc., criteria of sensibility and economy prevail. Selecting good materials, (in our case magnificent blocks of granite), and careful and demanding execution assures durability and low maintenance. Such criteria search for pure, essential elements, thus eliminating the excesses which are so common today in public spaces. Rather than aiming for personal expression, we hoped to introduce a certain level of anonymity in the form of these public spaces, attaining a light architecture, one that is in intense relationship with nature, affirming its willingness to recede into its surroundings.(Description provided by the architects)