EWWUD 2011 Waterfront Urban Design - An Heritage for the Future

IP Designation: 05547/PP LISBOA52/ERA10 IP 2010-2011 Title: Waterfront Urban Design - An heritage for the future (EWWUD) Coordinator: Pedro Ressano Garcia Organizing Committee: Bernardo Vaz Pinto Margarida Valla Students Committee: Bruno Salgueiro Carlos Vinagre Daniela Silva Gonçalo Casqueiro Joana Melo Hugo Vieira Editorial Coordination: Pedro Ressano Garcia Design & Layout: Daniela Silva Graphic Logo: Andrea Varela Rivera Benedetta Agostini Publication Date: 2011 Permalink: http://ewwud.ulusofona.pt/ Keywords: Waterfront Regeneration, Port Cities at Tagus River, Urban Design.

Edições Universitárias Lusófonas

Impressão e Acabamento: Soartes – Artes Gráficas, Lda. Depósito Legal: 341429/12 ISBN: 978-989-8512-13-0

Todos os direitos deste edição são reservados por Edições Universitárias Lusófonas Campo Grande, 376 – 1749 – 024 Lisboa E-mail: edições.lusofonas@ulusofona.pt

Acknowledgments: The workshop requires the enthusiasm and the energy of a crowd. It is an extraordinary group of people, nearly eighty that work hard.

They travel miles to be in Lisbon, have little sleep and produce extraordinary material that we publish in this book. This is only possible because of the help of all who have supported the event in so many different ways.

The grant is offered by the European Community to cover large expenses inviting extraordinary professors coming to Lisbon. Portuguese teachers succeed to leave their busy professional lives and work passionately with each group. And at last, or first of all, the Universidade Lusófona that turned this project real.

The support from Public Entities exceeded all expectations, Arco Ribeirinho Sul municipality of Oeiras, Almada, Barreiro and Seixal contributed widely with material and internal information. Chair at Forum do Mar, Fernando Ribeiro e Castro, adopted the project, establishing most contacts with public and private institutions, claiming the relevance of the event. At Universidade Lusófona the International Relations, Career & Entrepreneurship Office carried out all the difficult administrative procedures, that is not an easy job and they succeeded beautifully. Director Joel Hasse Ferreira and Sub-Director of ISCAD Jorge Gregório hosted the group. The Administrator of Universidade Lusófona, José Manuel Damásio carefully handled the project and solved a number of difficulties that the project, being pioneer, necessarily demands.

The participation of invited professors raised the level of scientific expertise thanks to Zbigniew Paszkowski, Lechoslaw Czernik, Dirk Schubert, Renee Tribble, Françoise PY, Alkmini Paka, Anastasia Tzaka, Nikos Kalogirou, Lucyna Nyka, Aysu Akalin, M. Tayfun and Maarten Willems. From Universidade Lusófona professors Bernardo Vaz Pinto, Margarida Valla, Maria João Matos, Inês Cabral, Eliana Santos, Rui Simões, Tiago Queiroz, António Louro, Vasco Pinheiro, Filipe Afonso and Luis Santiago Batista, contaminated the group with their enthusiasm and challenged their thoughts. The students group made the organization of the event possible, without them it would not have happened, they brought a refreshing and energetic approach thanks to Carlos Vinagre Martins, Joana Melo, Bruno Salgueiro, Hugo Vieira, Gonçalo Casqueiro and Daniela Silva.

Pedro Ressano Garcia Coordinator of European Workshop on Waterfront Urban Design 2011

plan

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plan introdution

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Dirk Schubert

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Adarsha Kapoor

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“Port Cities and Waterfront”

“Waterfronts in India - Origin & Morphological Description”

Lucyna Nyka

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João Santa-Rita (paper)

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Docapesca - Waste [Land] Scape Docapesca - Bridging Docapesca

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Luís Santiago Baptista (paper)

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Margueira - Bac Scape Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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Ana Costa (paper)

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Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

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Alkmini Paka Anastasia Tzaka Nikos Kalogirou (paper)

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Inês Cabral Maria João Matos (paper)

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Barreiro - Note the Nodes Barreiro 2011_2021_2036

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conclusion

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final boards

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“Reshaping the line of land and water - negotiating the form of urban waterfronts”

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text Pedro Ressano Garcia PhD from Lusófona University of Lisbon

Waterfront New Life The second edition of the European Workshop in Urban Design completed the work we started in 2010. The estuary presenting diverse situations motivated us to cover four other locations. Between workshops, during one year period, there was time to present ideas in international conferences and publications, to discuss with local experts and the municipalities. It was useful to organize ideas, test the potential viability of the solutions formulated and give it a time of digestion. When dealing with Urban Design, one year is a very short period for new solutions to be understood, adopted and implemented. As Le Corbusier argued, new

ideas in architecture and urban design take ten years to be communicated and another ten years to be implemented.

The four locations were Margueira, Barreiro, Poço do Bispo and Docapesca. The methodology used at the studios was based on the presentation of these four waterfront situations and the organization about the historic and geographic conditions, field trips, presentation of lectures conducted by architects involved with new master plans, and technical staff from the municipalities developing work for each particular location on the Lisbon estuary. The research is made prior

to the workshop, it intends to create a body of knowledge that is free from political pressures, and cross it the projects developed by public or private responsibles. The information collected covers a wide range that is useful for defining particularities of local culture. In the first days each group organize, select and edit the information having in mind that the aim of the workshop is to design solutions, a task that is carried out after two weeks.

Municipality representatives and high profile professionals, authors of master plans and projects of architecture of

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significant relevance for the region were involved in the workshop to share their perception of the theme. The aim to bring together local and external experts has been of great interest.

Lectures included João Santa-Rita, encharged with Richard Rogers of Margueira masterplan, Nuno Lourenço by office Risco, encharged of Barreiro masterplan, Ana Costa, principal at Dassiano Costa office, who is finishing the main ferry terminal at Terreiro do Paço, the main waterfront square of Lisbon. These three architectural offices were able to cover the spectrum of the last design produced locally for the designated sites. Lectures by Dirk Schubert and Ressano Garcia, established parallels with international cases. In general, local experts know more about the specific conditions of the region, they share their knowledge and highlight significant cultural aspects to be considered, with all participants. In short, external experts learn with them, in a learning process that holds respect for the local culture and intense curiosity regarding the constrains and opportunities for the site.

While international participants bring their own perception of the selected sites at the waterfront, they reveal a respectful attitude and true interest in the cases presented, understanding the importance of local culture. Among the international participants we had referenced authors on the subject of waterfronts, who brought their knowledge and challenged the group with a new vision. One that inevitably shares knowledge on the subject and may establish cross references with other waterfront solutions produced worldwide.

When putting eighty persons for two weeks to work together to imagine solutions, urban design solutions, there is a great potential but simultaneously a high risk. Potential because the transverse exchange of visions brings a good understanding of the richness existing at each specific site. In this sense, the use of references tested or imagined for other locations have the capacity to influence or guide the new design solutions. Risk because the municipalities although present at the workshop do not have the possibility to inform about all their procedures and regulations when dealing with

introduction

Waterfront New Life

“While international participants bring their own perception of the selected sites at the waterfront, they reveal a respectful attitude and true interest in the cases presented, understanding the importance of local culture.” the waterfront, meaning that some of the proposals are away from the legal possibility to be implemented. They can be considered Utopian or too far from legal viability.

Municipalities attempt to give the legal frame work for the new design solutions depending on various bodies of governmental, regional, environmental and municipal institutions. They could have invited them all but the complexity of the regulations is dependent on the type of imagined solutions themselves. The dialogue between the institutions is also characterized by the animosity of professionals that protect their disciplines and do not consider other disciplinary approaches. At present, the organization of governmental related institutions is such that there is little articulation and short cooperation. The complexity of legal procedures also presents a great deal of contradictions. The main responsible at these institutions are valued to follow administrative procedures but not valued to present imaginative ideas, in particular if they require to think above procedures.

It might be considered useless to think beyond procedures and regulations, especially for the institutions in power, however among our group of experts we come to realize that new ideas take some time to be understood by the community and it is the task of academics to launch new ideas

that eventually challenge the current situation. City planning and master plans are evolving towards the denial of thought, where the procedure becomes more important than the possibility of thinking. They became bureaucratic tools and the bureaucracy, as Mikhail Gorbachev pointed out, holds the safety zone for the mediocre. Furthermore the contradictions existing among regulations give room for corruption and possible reinterpretations of life.

The intensive program started in 2009 when a number of urban development projects were being developed for the region, however the financial situation slowed down the rhythm of investment and the expectations upon which the plans were imagined. Such transformation forced the plans to be reviewed, however city planning hierarchy does not allowed adaptation. Development projects have been launched on a scale that cannot possibly be sustained, but they need years or decades to be readjusted. Their strategy should be revised and some of the proposals developed at the workshop do that. They do it in a very direct way, as if the local communities could get involved and had a word to say about their expectations and municipalities were not subordinate to investors’ taxes.

The present situation lays two major lines of thought when

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dealing with former industrial port areas: one that believes in a continuous urbanisation, although slowed down by the financial crises, based on growth and expansion. The other presents a holistic notion where conservation and urban development must be integrated to improve the environment and the community. The second, it is not necessarily oriented to attract large capital, but engage the participation of stakeholders, local investors and the community. For them the Expo98 urban development model is dated. While the first group believes the continuous growth and accumulation of capital as the ruling model.

g. Bridge 25 de Abril Photographed by Rodrigo Rato

“[...] there are those that believe we can transform and control nature and those who rather wish to negotiate with it since they realize nature is increasingly stronger and unpredictable.”

Regarding environmental factors the paradigm is similar, on one hand there are those that believe we can transform and control nature and those who rather wish to negotiate with it since they realize nature is increasingly stronger and unpredictable. In short, they claim that nature always wins.

For the first group, the possibility to control nature is not just necessary but desirable. They argue that man holds the mechanisms for landfill, dredging, channelization and building. Waterfront territories and its landscape are absolutely artificial and the process should continue. Unlike the second group, that follow another line of thought, based on a holistic approach, increasingly popular, where constrains are to be integrated in solution. For the second group the complexity of nature is yet to be understood. They claim interdisciplinary approaches to present solutions that integrate patterns of nature.

The two philosophical points of view are not necessarily opposed at all levels. For the estuary of Lisbon the discussion is lively. Among the first group more supporters read waterfront spaces as an opportunity to attract capital and compete with other financial centres. In the second group there is a tendency to enhance the environment, natural and urban. The urban environment should improve the character to host urban activities, the natural environment should be supported by letting the wild life return. Nature and urbanity are taken as an opportunity to value the concept of slow city.

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The difference of approaches leads to opposite choices when dealing with urban infrastructures and natural resources. An existing water stream, for instance, for the first group, should be controlled and channelized while the second group may consider the opportunity to include it in new public spaces design around an open air canal.

In short the IP main objectives were: - To generate a methodology to contribute for the sustainable development of port cities; - To invite local authorities to come and exchange management visions that succeed to re-establish its relation with the water, improving environmental conditions while supporting the port activity; - To discuss and produce projects that improve the quality of life at the city and enhances the competitiveness of the port.

- To discuss the influence of geographic and historical factors on the present situation of ports and cities and produce cartographic records of the transformation of the waterfront, - To understand that former industrial waterfronts are potential sites of continuity for urban morphology.

introduction

The material produced at the workshop is expected to offer the participants a multidisciplinary overview of innovative and creative solutions for the following objectives: - Port cities sharing similar experiences regarding projects of architecture and urban design at former port areas; - Introduction of the cartographic culture of urban fabric’s transformation at the water edge; - Comparison of cultural, environmental and historical heritage solutions; - Port cities exchange mutual visions and common practices, that constitute a relevant tool for the regeneration of former port areas; - Production of architecture and urban design sketches for publication.

The work published here has been coordinated by Alkmini Paka, Anastasia Tzaka and Nikos Kalogirou from Thessaloniki, Greece, Françoise Py from Paris, France, Zbigniew Paszkowski and Lechoslaw Czernik from Szczecin, Poland, Dirk Schubert and Renee Tribble from Hamburg, Germany, Aysu Akalin, M. Tayfun from Ankara, Turkey and Maarten Willems

Waterfront New Life

from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Together with local faculty who supervised the studios, Maria João Matos, Margarida Valla, Inês Cabral, Bernardo Vaz Pinto, Eliana Santos, Filipe Afonso, António Louro and Luis Santiago Baptista. They made the workshop possible and their ideas are expressed through design and text in this book.

Each group working at the workshop was multinational, highly educated and well informed. Today data flows freely, it is not possible to limit decisions when dealing with a total of sixteen design studios (eight in this book and eight in the previous book) formulating solutions of urban design and architecture for the region of Lisbon. Few guidelines can be established when aiming for sustainable regeneration on the waterfront. Participants agreed on three major orientations: social, environment and economic. Each group presented visions structured by a time frame of five, ten, twenty, fifty years consequently most of the proposals considered solutions within an extensive time line. Both criteria follow the latest tendencies in urban design and inevitably structure all solutions within a common frame work. ■

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Port Cities and Waterfront (Re)developments - Some Perspectives

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text Prof. Dr. Dirk Schubert from HafenCity University, Hamburg [Germany]

Port Cities and Waterfront (Re)developments – Some Perspectives Meanwhile a lot of literature exists on port cities waterfront redevelopment projects worldwide. Most of these publications are written with a special disciplinary approach, by architects, by economics, by sociologists, by planners, ecologists, urban and port historians as well as by authorities doing PR-work for their projects. Most of these publications are case studies, describing one example, not referring to a theoretical background. Often most important figures and data are missing.

Most publications refer to their evaluated example as unique, started and ended in special period. We should distinguish between professional orientated brochures publications and

scholarly analyses. Although it is important to evaluate also the PR-oriented publications, scholarly is more analytic, more reflective and integrated into a broader (comparative) perspective of social systems, historical events etc.

Over the past 150 years “things” along the waterfronts have been constantly changing, new landforms, forms of shipping and cargo handling as well as plans and projects related to the port and the waterfront. In a way there is permanent change in port cities and along waterfronts, never ending.

This has to be taken into conclusion to evaluate transforming

waterfronts over longer decades and periods. Waterfronts have been centres of urban transformation for centuries and will, no doubt, continue to be so.

As it is important to analyze these transformations in a longer perspective a useful periodization is necessary. This can be arranged around key events with long-term important restructuring processes. Some of these events are decisions for dock or open tidal seaports, mechanisation of cargo handling, deregulation of dockers work and introduction of containerisation.

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A multidisciplinary approach is necessary in this field, including history, geography, political science, sociology and urban planning. Reasons and details of why and how have to be analyzed and have to be linked with questions of where, when and who? There have been tremendous transformations in the past and there will be transformations in the future. Where are these transformations happening, when were the transformations started and who was involved?

Where includes also a regional perspective. Waterfront redevelopments in older parts of the port are not isolated but connected often with modernization of port facilities and terminals elsewhere in the region. But these evolutions are also related to global transport improvements, like the opening of the Suez Canal and nowadays for example of the improvement of the Panama Canal for larger vessels. These decisions are changing the shipping lines and transport networks and have impacts on the location of ports and on the demand for local port improvements and modernization.

When refers to long time discussion processes, often started years before the final implementation of the project. Unfulfilled plans, not implemented should be analyzed to check to reasons why they were not realised. Very often it is important “to seize the moment” as a unique opportunity, which can be lost of a project is started to early or to late. This refers to the local/regional housing and office market, although there are also developers acting on an international or even global scale.

Who is also a question which has to be dealt with on a global level with important impacts on the local/regional level. To identify and analyze the actors and their interests is a quite complicated task because the actors are not sitting at one table with equal capabilities. Often there are conflicting interests of global players and local actors, which have a different power base. The decisions for example of globally orientated shipping companies and their transport networks are made at their headquarter somewhere not reflecting local impacts

Port Cities and Waterfront (Re)developments - Some Perspectives

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“Over the past 150 years “things” along the waterfronts have been constantly changing, [...]” their decisions have. But there are other actors involved like politicians, planners and architects, who also have their networks where ideas for redevelopment are circulated and discussed.

In this perspective it is important to do case studies (based on interviews, publications, material in archives etc.) and relate them to a general perspective of urban and regional transformation. Because of the complexity of actors and transformations on different scales a multidisciplinary perspective of research is absolutely necessary. To identify processes of convergence and divergence regarded to these transformations only a comparative analysis including a historical perspective is possible.

While waterfronts have been categorized as devaluated, under-utilized areas this image has changed. Now they are becoming “spaces of opportunity” and “spaces of promise”, especially for the “creative classes” and science-based industries. New developments destroy, create, combine and separate older structures. The waterfront is unique and the location where all these spatial and social transformations can be analyzed in an early stage and where conclusions can be made for other urban areas.

Transformations at the waterfront When discussions began more than thirty years ago on the redevelopment of derelict and sub-optimally used harbour sites, it was assumed that this would be a specific and unique planning task. The waterfront became the particular place where the transformation from the industrial and fordist city to the post-industrial and science-based city could be accomplished—that is, a shift ‘from ships to chips’. In the 1980s,

European inexperience with waterfront redevelopment, unclear designation of responsibility, a bad urban image, and the desire for new land uses allowed so-called ‘pioneers’ to exploit development niches for their own purposes. This was soon followed by the redevelopment of individual warehouses and the conversion of industrial heritage sites into lofts and expensive private apartments. It soon became clear that standardised regeneration models were not delivering the best local solutions. The partly mono-functional and smallscale approach to redevelopment of central port and derelict waterfront sites became integrated into large-scale strategic perspectives.

Waterfront sites have become the sites for important components in larger comprehensive urban and regional concepts.

The examples discussed in this chapter illustrate this point.

Although waterfronts in Europe are important elements for urban redevelopment and provide unique images for urban marketing, they are now often integrated into sustainable medium-term and long-term regeneration efforts, together with other brownfields, transport and landscape planning projects. For several decades now, port cities have been restructuring derelict docks and waterfronts in their inner cities.

Many existing case studies loo at ‘successful’ waterfront redevelopment projects from different viewpoints and provide uncritical analysis, lacking objective and comparative criteria.

The transformation process of ports and waterfronts has been closely connected with world-wide economic restructuring, technological change in shipping and cargo handling facilities, and competition between seaport cities in the global hierarchy. In the last few decades older port areas that lie next to city centres have seen rapid change. These water

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fronts – formerly used for cargo handling and its noisy, dirty and dangerous work, have become places for offices, condominiums, cultural uses and flagship projects which have all helped to emphasise the transformation. After a period of derelict and underused docklands, waterfront (re)developments have been hailed as projects full of promise and expectation for the seaports’ future and related strategies for growth. The cycle of dereliction, neglect, planning, implementation and revitalisation of old harbour areas as well as the necessaryconstruction of port infrastructures are all part of a complex network of different stakeholders and interests.

Derelict waterfront sites offer opportunities for new sustainable uses that no longer require a position close to the water.

Efforts are being made everywhere to compensate for the structural changes in cargo handling, ship building and seaport industries along with the resulting loss of employment through revitalisation projects that aim to exploit structural changes in an attempt to modernise the urban economies.

Although a great variety of factors influence these projects – such as size, local and regional office and housing markets, the planning and implementation timeframe, approaches and targets chosen for regeneration and the context of governance and planning cultures – the development sequence is always about the same: - Dereliction, relocation of terminals and port uses; - Neglect of derelict areas; - Planning concepts and design proposals for sub-optimal use of former port areas; - Implementation, construction; - Revitalisation and enhancement of port areas and waterfronts.

These changes are occurring in port cities at a rapid pace, almost faster than we can appraise or analyse. They are less a result of planning and design than an expression of social and economic processes on a global scale. In many seaports the demand for these areas by the “creative class” as well as

Port Cities and Waterfront (Re)developments - Some Perspectives

singles and yuppies is increasing. New waterfronts in particular mirror globalisation processes and have become the new locations for work, housing and recreation favoured by the “creative class” in knowledge-based societies. In the following I will focus on different types of transformation, based on dominant new uses:

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Revitalisation, however, has no precise definition, but embraces a complex field of changing uses, rejuvenation and regeneration, redesign and remodelling at the intersection of diverse interests that are connected at the interface of city/ country - port/water.

project of its kind in the United Kingdom and Europe. North American examples such as Baltimore and Boston provided general inspiration for the London Docklands, but regeneration was on a far larger scale (22 square kilometres). In London, the oldest docks had closed in the mid-1960s, bringing a dramatic shift from good times to hard times for local people.

The relocation of the port resulted in more than 80,000 jobs being lost in the East End of London between 1971 and 1991.

But Margaret Thatcher had a vision: “Docklands – an exceptional place”. She, along with her advisers, pursued a policy of free enterprise zones, and the first one to be established was in London Docklands. No taxes needed be paid for ten years; there were neither union regulations nor planning restrictions, but free business for free entrepreneurs. Taking the sledgehammer approach, Margaret Thatcher’s “flagship project” at Docklands and Canary Wharf was enforced in the “big bang”.

London: From Docklands to Thames Gateway Although the importance of London’s port is now relatively insignificant in terms of the urban economy, its redevelopment into an office and residential district is the first large-scale

Development at Docklands was mostly office-led redevelopments, although some luxury housing was also built. The centre at Canary Wharf was built to challenge the financial hub in the City of London, only several miles upstream. The

- “Office-led” (London Docklands); - “Housing-led” (Amsterdam Eastern Docklands); - “Culture-led” (Bilbao Abandoibarra); - “Mixed-use-led” (Gothenburg Norra Älvstranden).

“The transformation process of ports and waterfronts has been closely connected with worldwide economic restructuring, technological change in shipping and cargo handling facilities, and competition between seaport cities in the global hierarchy.”

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project was implemented in the context of a new enterprise culture, which was based on privatisation, deregulation and neo-liberalism.

The deregulation policies of the Dockland Development Corporation (LDDC) triggered a building boom, mainly in the Docklands core zone, the enterprise zone around Canary Wharf. The (Urban) Development Corporations had been established by central government as Quangos (quasi autonomous non-governmental organisations) to forestall protracted democratic decision-making and participation processes, and to accelerate the process of decision-making, such as building permissions. Leverage planning was meant to speed projects up with subsidies and/or tax relief being introduced to include private capital in order to exert financial leverage. The free enterprise zone and the policy of the London Docklands Development Corporation left London with a a fragmented city. New office developments and luxury housing went up next to old public housing blocks.

New jobs were brought into the area, but they were not for local people, which led to segregation and contradictions between old and new. The number of inhabitants has more than doubled between 1980 and 2008, and the social structure has become more divergent. Since then, the Docklands project has been incorporated in the Thames Gateway strategy, which covers a much larger area, extending from the capital to the Channel. London probably represents the most spectacular transformation of a former port in Europe. A number of recent regeneration projects along the Thames are modelled on the concept of an “urban renaissance”. The redevelopment of Docklands has now been incorporated into the plans for the Olympics and the regional plans for the Thames Gateway, which envision the corridor up to the Thames estuary becoming a dynamic development zone in the future.

What had started 30 years ago as an incremental approach and was initially considered more of an experiment (“trial and error”) has since been integrated into the urban development

Port Cities and Waterfront (Re)developments - Some Perspectives

strategies by political changes and general planning policies, such as the London Plan. Today, Canary Wharf has turned into a regional centre for London, with more new office buildings proposed or under construction. A decade ago, in 1998, the LDDC closed its doors. Meanwhile, a paradigm shift has taken place in the United Kingdom and in London, with a “return to planning”. What had begun as top-down planning was replaced by a partnership approach and is now included in a regional sustainable strategy for social inclusion and proactive planning.

Within this urban regional development concept of the Thames Gateway, Canary Wharf is only one important subcentre among many in a polycentric structure comprising a patchwork of complexity and uniqueness. A lack of strategic urban regional planning policies under conservative reign and the consequential fragmentation in the absence of a single responsible authority for the whole of London has left a hotchpotch of projects. The objective is to incorporate the entire region of the Thames estuary within one coherent plan and to integrate sectoral plans into sustainable perspectives.

Amsterdam – Eastern Docklands After the Second World War rapid structural changes took place in Amsterdam the same as in other seaport cities. The Eastern Docklands development area is made up of several man-made islands. The construction of docks in the west (Western Docklands) after the Second World War contributed to the decline of the harbour in the eastern docks. The port was equipped for transhipment of piece goods and its finger piers were unsuitable for container handling. Passenger shipping was replaced by cheap air travel, and in 1979 the last shipping company closed operations. For many years parts of the Eastern Docklands were in “temporary use” by artists, urban nomads and squatters who lived in caravans, huts, tents and other provisional accommodation.

Suburbanisation resulted in a reduction of Amsterdam’s population by 150,000 inhabitants between 1965 and 1980,

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which led to an increase in commuter traffic and an underutilisation of the city’s infrastructure. This trend was counteracted by the structure plan “De stad central”, which was based on the model of the “compact city” and adopted in 1980. Measures introduced to stem migration out of the city included attractive inner city housing areas and concentrated on development and urban regeneration in the centre. The plan also proposed to balance the historic city’s “southern axis” by installing the “IJ axis”. The axis starts at the railway station and extends across the former harbour up to the northern embankment of the IJ. This was to turn the city’s “back yard” into an attractive city frontage.

Against the backdrop of housing shortage and population migration the municipality of Amsterdam decided as early as 1975 to redevelop the area for residential use. The project commenced in 1978 with the municipality developing an urban planning programme. For years large housing estates had been built on the periphery and on the polders, but then a more compact urban structure was aimed for. Not least to keep the tax payers within the city boundaries, high densities of 100 units per hectare and a floor space index of 1.4 were stipulated. A total of 18,000 new homes were to be built in the Eastern Docklands. Almost the entire site is surrounded by water and new residents were to enjoy the advantages of the location. “Blue is green” was the slogan which was to make up for high housing density. It was Amsterdam’s most significant urban design project that was located inside the motorway ring on approximately 313 hectares, of which twothirds were water. The public realm contains more than just roads and green space, but is mainly docks, canals and the open waters of the IJ bay. The station and city centre are within walking distance.

The eastern port area is a laboratory of different urban design concepts and housing types. Sub-areas of very different standards were built. The KNSM area was constructed between 1995 and 2000, laid out after the masterplan by Jo Coenen. Two super blocks by the architects Bruno Albert

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(“Barcelona”) and Hans Kolhoff (“Piräus”), with 300 apartments each, were built on a prominent site. On Javaeiland, which is connected to the city via a dam and a bridge, a mix of blocks of flats and canal houses including the social infrastructure was realised.

On the Borneo and Sporenborg peninsulas terraced houses were built in the east in addition to high-rises (Veemarkt Entrepot West and Middengbied). The linear structure of the finger piers is broken up with “meteorites”, which serve as eye catchers and interrupt the rows. Approximately 30% of the flats are social housing.

Now that there is no more building land in the eastern port new sites are being reclaimed from the IJ in the east of the port. In 1996 it was decided to create a man-made archipelago of seven islands using hydraulic pumping. Up until 2012 18,000 new homes will be built here, housing around 45,000 people. In September 2001 the spectacular bridge to IJburg was opened and the first flats were ready for occupation in 2002. Work has also started on the western port areas near the city centre, where a large number of prefabricated flats for students were built. Future developments envisage a large number of flats with water access by means of constructed pontoons and quays. In addition, areas north of the IJ have now been incorporated in the transformation strategy.

With the redevelopment of former port areas Amsterdam has realised new housing projects in inner city locations. Even if the concept of “building for the neighbourhood” has in the meantime changed to “building for the market”, no other port city has pursued housing development in a similar, uncompromising, deliberate and successful way with the main purpose of furnishing the former port areas with a new use.

Bilbao Abandoibarra: a dilapidated industrial city turns cultural metropolis Only fifteen years ago the rusty relics of a past industrial era were still a conspicuous element in the city of Bilbao, the

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“However, the city (Bilbao) has managed to emerge from the slipstream of the Guggenheim Museum by cleverly using its charisma to reorganise its city centre and widen its range of facilities. ” capital of the Biscay province in the Basque region in Spain.

The River Nervión was an odorous cesspool with derelict and abandoned industrial buildings lining its banks. This crisistorn city became the image of downfall, population decline and de-industrialisation. In the early 1990s, after the shipbuilding crisis and the decline of the steel industry, unemployment exceeded 25%. Bilbao has only one timeframe: before and after the construction of the Guggenheim Museum.

Bilbao is a key example of the comprehensive urban transformation process that was significantly inspired by the Guggenheim Museum (“Guggi” – architect Frank O. Gehry), the lighthouse project that brought about the total reversal of the city’s image (culture-led). The relocation of the industry and harbour to the city’s periphery and to the mouth of the river on the Biscay after the industrial crisis in the 1980s provided the opportunity to completely restructure the city centre.

Abandoibarra is a significant conversion project that plans to reorganise the city centre on the River Nervión and redevelop the river banks as promenades with an “arts centre”.

Abandoibarra is an extension of Bilbao’s inner city and complements the area around the Guggenheim Museum, mostly with more cultural uses, offices, high-quality housing, a shopping centre, hotel and with parks linking into a new network of footpaths along the river and with bridges that connect to the northern riverbank. The different project phases are structurally linked with one another; proposals are spatially

connected and as a result the river moves to the city centre.

The relevant civil society stakeholders have formed the Bilbao Metropoli-30 (Association for the Revitalisation of Metropolitan Bilbao) to further sustained modernisation and transformation processes. Over 140 institutions and organisations strive to promote Bilbao’s sustainable transformation in a “think tank” of sorts. “Bilbao as a global city” and “making dreams come true” are the key themes coined by Bilbao Metropoli-30 for the continuous transformation of Bilbao in the future.

The Guggenheim Museum (which receives approximately one million visitors a year) immediately to the east of Abandoibarra and the Palacio Euskalduna (concert hall and conference centre) to the west, frame the area that hosts many parks. The 165-metre high Iberdrola Tower is another new landmark. The numerous parks and open spaces are a dominant feature in the area. As well as these public open spaces, which are linked with networks of paths and a river promenade, Euskadi Square is to form a central space with road axes branching off in different directions. The waterfront area is an oasis of calm that invites people to rest, walk or shop. Apart from the residential buildings mainly educational facilities and museums define the character of the area and its immediate surroundings. This rapid boom is due for the most part to the much described “Guggenheim effect”. However, the city has managed to emerge from the slipstream

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of the Guggenheim Museum by cleverly using its charisma to reorganise its city centre and widen its range of facilities.

Many projects had in fact begun before the museum was built, but it was down to its construction that Bilbao appeared on the world map. In a joint effort on the part of all stakeholders a window of opportunity for a change of image was opened up and exploited. The success of converting a negative image into a very positive image by means of a building came as a surprise not just to Bilbao’s stakeholders and operators, but it cannot necessarily be applied in other large cities. Bilbao and Abandoibarra are an impressive example of urban transformation triggered by a culture-led development, which can be exploited for marketing the city.

Gothenburg: From a shipbuilding city to a mixed-use waterfront city No other seaport city has been as severely affected by the shipbuilding crisis as Goteborg. Up to the mid-1960s state loans and guarantees had helped investments into the latest facilities with a focus on large tankers and bulk carriers. In the mid-1970s more than 30,000 people were working directly in the shipbuilding industry. After the oil crisis and the relocation of shipbuilding to Asia all but one of the shipbuilding yards closed down, and that one only for carrying out repairs. Since the 1970s core port uses have moved both westwards and seawards, well away from the city.

Norra Älvstranden is situated on the northern bank of the Göta Älv River, opposite the city centre and the old town, in between the two bridges of Älvsborgbron and Göta Älvsbron.

Port Cities and Waterfront (Re)developments - Some Perspectives

Norra Älvstranden covers approximately 290 hectares (of which 40 hectares are water). It was in the 1980s that the opportunity for comprehensive redevelopment opened up.

A framework development plan was adopted in 1985, which contained the foundation for the subsequent conversions.

Around half the area was owned by a former shipbuilding company, the other half was in public ownership. The city council adopted the plan in 1989 and the area was subdivided into six sub-plots. The schemes were to be flexible enough to accommodate change at any time, the overarching vision remaining as a constant. An urban development plan was prepared as early as 1993 under the premise of competitive capacity and sustainability.

Once ideas for redevelopment of the derelict port and wharf areas had been discussed in the 1980s the municipality, together with planners and architects, presented a comprehensive development plan for Norra Älvstranden in 1989. It envisioned “enduring” development and new neighbourhoods “for all”. The site was extended in increments with several project development phases going on for over 25 years. A new framework development plan was adopted in 2000 and IT clusters added near Lindholmen. Since then numerous companies have settled in the completed office areas and have boosted the number of wage earners in the area. The exclusive waterfront housing areas are also proving popular, although they are criticised for a lack of affordable homes and house types.

The waterfront revitalisation in Goteborg focuses on mixed structures. 40% of the area is to be used for a mix of housing

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and offices, 35% for office development and 25% for green open spaces. According to the development plan 25% is for rental accommodation; disruptive uses and industries will no longer be permitted. In addition, the obligatory arts and education facilities were included along with a reduction in private cars in favour of public transport.

In Norra Älvstranden the target was to respond to the closure of shipbuilding yards by establishing educational facilities in the areas (university campus) as well as IT clusters (in the Lindholmen section) and to create a new knowledge centre of sorts besides the housing, offices and shopping areas.

By 2010 Norra Älvstranden was to have a total of 15,000 residents and 23,000 people working there plus some 12,000 students.

The municipal development corporation “Älvstranden Utveckling AB” (formerly Norra Älvstranden Utveckling AB) controls the development measures in collaboration with private investors and urban planning authorities in Norra Älvstranden. The aim was to establish a wide mix of uses as well as retain and integrate industrial architecture that is worth conserving or is deemed attractive. The provision of sufficient open spaces and a network of waterfront promenades were important factors. Particularly Eriksberg is trying to incorporate landmark building in future projects, such as its gigantic crane.

Norra Älvstranden contributed to sharpening the profile of knowledge-based technologies both regionally and nationwide. So by and large the jobs lost in the shipbuilding yards

“Ports are turning into secluded worlds, separated from the urban context, spatially and mentally severed from the city, with their own employment, operators and administration structures. ”

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were absorbed by employment created in the tertiary sector and the location was successfully strengthened. Inclusion (empowerment) of the residents in decision making has been a central component of all of the planning projects. The area was developed with mixed-uses, including housing, offices, service provider industries, arts and education facilities, restaurants, cafes and abundant open spaces with parks and waterfront promenades. Goteborg was early to focus on long-term sustainable transformation strategies with compact mixed-uses; it was not deterred from its strategies by market upheaval and failures.

Some conclusions For a systematic comparative study, it is relevant to identify similar and dissimilar structural characteristics. Of course, the diverse approaches described above must be seen in the

Port Cities and Waterfront (Re)developments - Some Perspectives

context of different regional relationships, but equally imporcontext of different regional relationships, but equally important are the topographical factors, the local urban and port history, the network of stakeholders, governance structures and the planning cultures. As there has not been a great deal of comparative research carried out in this field to date, such studies offer a framework for identifying different structures of decision making processes, different types of urban development and diverse socio-cultural conditions. In the end there are no “best-practice” solutions. There is both a divergence as well as a convergence of strategies and approaches; however, success is most often linked to satisfying local housing and office markets.

Understanding planning history and planning cultures is crucial for understanding redevelopment projects on the water-

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-front. In the past there were fewer differences between port cities across civilisation boundaries than there were similarities. Today, cities are growing more alike while ports and shipping have become more specialised. Ports are turning into secluded worlds, separated from the urban context, spatially and mentally severed from the city, with their own employment, operators and administration structures. While older port areas near the city centre have been (re)integrated into the urban fabric, the new port infrastructures are separate from the urban structure and situated in areas where deepwater ports and large areas of land are available. Seaport cities and local port authorities will gradually lose the ability to determine the course of “their” ports, whilst logistics firms operating globally will be setting the agenda. ■

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Waterfronts in India: Origin & Morphological Description

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text Adarsha Kapoor from Studio U+A [India]

Waterfronts in India Origin & Morphological Description Waterfronts have been a significant part of urban settlements throughout ages. Starting from the prehistoric ages, to the futuristic civilizations of today, water and land have been inseparable in the perception of Settlement planners and designers. This inseparable relationship of water and land has given birth to the physical environment of waterfronts. After perceiving waterfronts notionally, they were given diverse cultural and morphological character based on their physical and socio-cultural context. This article aims to understand four distinct typologies of Indian waterfronts based on their context, created by varied cultural influences in the Indian Subcontinent.

The four distinct types of waterfronts can be classified into: 1. Waterfronts of Indus Valley Civilization; 2. Waterfronts with influence of Vedic era. (Hindu Architecture); 3. Waterfronts with influence of Mughal planners. (Islamic Architecture); 4. Waterfronts with Influence of European Architecture.

Indus Valley Civilization Indian waterfronts started developing from the times of Indus valley civilizations, when the nearness to water was primarily for sustenance of the settlement through severe weather conditions and droughts (1) (Images h and i). The water needed for existence was brought into the settlements from the source of water, through channels. The perception of waterfront was restricted to physical boundaries in the form of embankments or mud walls and was nowhere associated with space or environment. Ancient artifacts collected from these settlements do highlight the significance of water and water bodies in the cultural setup, yet it is reflected to a mere dividing line between land and water, and not the space around it.

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h. The Indus era settlement at Dholavira had no waterfront, even though it was located at the edge of a water stream. Even recreation of any kind was not associated with use of water. Source: Illustration by Author based on Graphical representation of Settlement of Dholavira by Archaeological Survey of India.

i. This Indus era settlement at Lothal had perceived its waterfront as an edge of a dock, for trade and commerce with settlements in the Gulf Region of the present Middle Eastern Asia. It was not associated with any other form of human activity. Source: Illustration by Author based on Graphical representation of Settlement of Lothal by Archaeological Survey of India.

Waterfronts in India: Origin & Morphological Description

Vedic Influence The advent of Aryans and Dravidians into the Indian subcontinent brought the present form of “Hindu culture” to the Asian subcontinent (2). The Hindu religious practices followed idol worships. These idols would be based on deities, which might represent a natural creature or an element of nature.

Temples, with idols, trees with religious significance, forces of nature like water, air, sun, etc. and living creatures were some of the elements which are worshiped in the Hindu Religious practices (3). The waterfronts would typically consist of all these objects dispersed in the three dimensional space, in their real form or as a replica of the same. The use and religious significance of the waterfront would then determine the arrangement of these elements in space.

Examples As per Hindu Beliefs, Varanasi, an ancient settlement next to the Holy River Ganges, had been an abode for reliving the human spirit of all earthly attachments on its way to heaven (4). Final rites after the death of a living body are performed on the Ghats of Varanasi. This would require podiums for worshipping, temples with Hindu deities representing death and Ghats for holy bath during the rituals. These waterfronts would not be used for a single large gathering. It would be for numerous small gatherings around small worshipping podiums. (Image j)

j. Graphical representation of Ghats at Varanasi. Source: Illustration by Author.

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Mythologically, another ancient holy city of Haridwar, is associated with reliving oneself from all sins of the present and previous births of the human body with a dip in the Holy water of Ganges and subsequent worship of the Goddess Ganga (5). This would require bathing ghats, temples of Goddess Ganga and large congregation space for the worship of the Goddess. (Image K)

k. Graphical representation of Ghats at Haridwar. Source: Illustration by Author.

Mughal (Islamic) Influence In the period starting from 13th century upto 16th century, advent of Islamic conquerors added another flavour to the perception of waterfronts in the Indian subcontinent. This was due to two prominent reasons.

Firstly, Islamic tenets were against the worship of elements of nature including water. As a result waterfronts had no religious or cultural significance. It can also be seen, in the Islamic architecture, where simple geometric shapes and forms were used while replication of any element of nature was considered blasphemy (6).

Secondly, Islamic conquerors had a sense of insecurity due to the presence of warring natives. As a result the Islamic settlements started creating fortified cities. These cities would be located next to a source of water. Yet, instead of opening up to the water bodies, they would consider the huge expanse of unbuildable space of a water body as a safety measure against their enemies. They would not use them

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directly for any other human activity. They would bring water from its main source inside the settlements in the form of channels and manmade streams. During this phase river/ lake edges were left as boundaries, while small scale manmade waterfronts were developed along artificial water channels, pools and streams. (Imagens l, m and n)

n. Taj Mahal Complex, Site Plan, Source: Illustration by Author .

l. Graphical representation of Agra Fort Precinct, Source: Illustration by Author.

The Mughal Settlement at Agra does not use River Yamuna actively. It has developed man made water bodies and waterfronts within the confines of both the Agra fort and the Taj Mahal.

m. Taj Mahal Complex Ariel View, Source: Illustration by Author .

The Taj Mahal Complex leaves Yamuna waterfront completely unused while the water channels inside the Taj Mahal complex are lined with adjacent designed walkways adjacent to the channels.

European (British) Influence Since 1700’s, Indian subcontinent saw the influx of European settlers in the form of traders. Subsequently, there was a rise of settlements developed as carbon copies of various cities in the Europe. The European principles of Urban Planning and Design were replicated in the Indian Context. This phase saw the development of modern waterfronts. Prior to the arrival of European settlers, waterfronts were associated and hence designed for specific cultural activities, which would double up for the purpose of trade and commerce. In this phase there were two additional definitions added to the already existing definitions of water fronts.

The Docks: Docks were developed as a hub of trade and commerce. This use of waterfront would bar general public from getting close to the waterfronts for any activity other than trade. These new waterfronts were vast expanses of paved embankments for loading and unloading of marine vessels, housing mechanical cranes, bulk storages and barracks for the labors. The urban form of dock would be inviting for trade related activities and strictly rigid for any other activity, often giving a very different picture of the actual urban form behind such fabrics. This was a significant new change in the settlement patterns of Indian Port cities. (Image o) River and Lake Fronts In this case, the perception of environment along water bodies, defining its physicality would be a resultant of elements in space which would have a significant importance in adding

o. Calcutta Docks, Source: Illustration by Author.

The docks of Kolkata (former Calcutta) would represent an entry point into a British trade centre, whereas the urban fabric behind the docks would say a completely different story of an Indian Village.

attributes of leisure and recreation while incorporating the religious and cultural ones of the earlier settlements in the design. The waterfront in itself would be a reflection of the ways in which the native and exotic cultures would first try to meet, and then shape the urban environment in ways which respected the traditional style while allowing the guest style to develop.

Example The strand road and the adjoining waterfront of Calcutta, was developed along the river Hooghly. A tributary of the Holy river of Ganga, its water was believed to relive oneself from all earthly sins. The waterfront, prior to the onset of British traders, was a dispersed series of bathing Ghats.

The British planners and designers retained the original bathing Ghats, in the way they were dispersed along the waterfront and developed a series of ferry stands, parks, viewing platforms and podiums, churches with significant

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Waterfronts in India: Origin & Morphological Description

“The waterfront in itself would be a reflection of the ways in which the native and exotic cultures would first try to meet, and then shape the urban environment in ways which respected the traditional style while allowing the guest style to develop.”

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administrative and commercial buildings behind it. (Image p) (8) This type of integrated waterfronts were also replicated in other colonial settlements like Chandanagore and Serampore (7). Even the lakes created inside the cities to store drinking water were lined with similar waterfronts. ■

References 1. “Ancient cities of the Indus Valley civilization”, Jonathan M. Kenoyer, Oxford University Press, 1998; 2. “Aryans and Dravidians”, K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Sachin Publications, 1979; 3. “Hindu places of pilgrimage in India: a study in cultural geography”, By Surinder Mohan Bhardwaj, University of California Press, London, 1983; 4. “Visualising Space in Banaras”, Edited by Martin Gaenszle and Jorg Gangnagel, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2008; 5. “Haridwar: Haridwar District, Kumbh Mela, Roorkee, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Kankhal, Cognizance, Haridwar Railway Station”, General Books LLC, 2010; 6. “Indian Islamic Architecture”, By John Burton-Page, Edited

by George Michel, Koninklijke Brill NV publishers, Netherlands, 2008; 7. “Calcutta, the Living City: The past “, Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995;

p. Graphical representation of Calcutta Riverfront, Source: Illustration by Author.

8. “Conservation of Indo-Danish-British heritage of Serampoer”, Unpublished thesis report by Somi Chatterjee, Batch of 2009, Dept. of Architectural Conservation, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi.

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Reshaping the line of land and water

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text Lucyna Nyka from Gdansk University of Technolog [Poland]

Reshaping the line of land and water - negotiating the form of urban waterfronts

A great number of currently running programmes focus on waterfront development strategies. While so many factors are negotiated within the implemented projects, still too rarely the modification of water system outlines is taken under consideration. While discussing the basic functional programmes and establishing parameters for newly introduced urban structure, there is an often overlooked need to study the benefits resulting from modifications of the land-water dividing line and reconsider the position of water in the city plan.

It is worthwhile to realise in this context, the relevance of water both as a key factor in the origin of many European cities, and as a critical agent in their growth, lacking in stability and constantly changing for many years. Historically, concepts defining the role of water had been altered for many centuries and the outlines of water systems were adapted to emerging needs. The lines of existing canals and water reservoirs were either modified, filled in with earth causing their disappearance from maps, or new lines were built. Drying out new areas caused the redefinition of the existing ones.

There are numerous examples of dynamic reconfigurations of the cities’ structures caused by the repositioning of water

reservoirs. The process in some cases was more rapid, in others rather latent, depending on global changes in economy, industry, culture and politics. Unchangeably, what was particularly noticeable in port cities, the logic of transformations was almost entirely subordinated to delimitation of new relations between urban spaces and water.

In the twentieth century, the question of water-city relation was dominated by functional approaches. Water was perceived mostly in utilitarian terms considered as a vital element for industry and transport. Although it was an important factor for inaccessible areas of shipyards and harbours, it was

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Reshaping the line of land and water

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“It is worthwhile to realise in this context, the relevance of water both as a key factor in the origin of many European cities, and as a critical agent in their growth, lacking in stability and constantly changing for many years. ” not present in urban spaces. Neglected and omitted in urban planning, it disappeared from cityscapes. Currently, due to the processes of industry withdrawing from cities, as well as transformations in culture, water is returning to the centre of interest. The role of water is widely appreciated and many strategies are being implemented to focus on re-claiming its presence in the perception of citizens. The basic challenges of many urban regeneration projects concern the question of how to shift centres of urban life to waterfront areas, how to connect the re-gained land and water to existing systems of public spaces and patterns of city usage, and finally, how to bring water back to the urban experience.

Despite numerous strategies implemented in order to reshape the city and adjust it to new spatial and environmental conditions, the lines of water are too often modified having no concern with potential benefits. This frequent omission could be regarded as one of the effects of the general oversimplification that dominated architectural thinking in the twentieth century and reduced architecture and urban planning to the proper composition of built structures. It has even been suggested that the late nineteenth century theories of Camillo Sitte were the start of that simplification process. Modernism worsened the situation, equating urban planning with defining the attractive disposition of buildings. Water, as an element to some degree intangible, formless, indefinable in terms of urban parameters, and which originated beyond human activity or at least considered as such, was simply omitted. The question of nature, particularly water as a component of the urban fabric appeared shortly in the 1960s. Some

of the concepts were too utopian though, or were too quickly suppressed by structuralism to change the general urban approaches and tools.

Architecture managed to discard the burden of formal thinking more easily than urban planning did, which resulted in concepts of water being incorporated into architectural form.

This was particularly visible in the architecture of Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra, and slightly later in the concepts of Alvaro Siza, mostly found in the impressive Leça da Palmeira swimming pools that merged with landscape, filling with water and resembling a rocky shore of the ocean. Following the first pioneering projects experimenting with blurring borders between built form and water, contemporary examples are numerous. They span from the technologically innovative water wall in Digital Pavilion in Saragossa, Hydra Pier – a construction that extends into the lake and is washed by its waters, to the phenomenal Blur Pavilion offering paths through continuously evaporating mist. There are buildings in which the visitor has to wade through water, go underneath its surface and look at it from a different perspective, not to mention the growing number of floating architectural objects gently cooperating with waves of rivers and lakes. After years in pursuit of quality geometrical arrangements, there is a noticeable shift bringing about a deep interest, or even fascination, with the element of water as a component of architectural form.

This shift is reflected as well in urban theories and practices. It has gradually become accepted that it is not only the built form of a city that constitutes its identity, but also the

transformation of natural features into a habitable landscape.

It is not only the vision of built form that contributes to urban quality, but also the way in which it negotiates with the surrounding. Consequently, a substantial group of researchers point out the importance of the emerging interpretations of a city in terms of landscape. It becomes not only a metaphor, but an important intellectual construction offering new tools to urban practices, in which many heterogenic elements like natural and built, ecological and social; all elements in their dynamic interrelationship can be considered as equally decisive and important. Obviously, this interpretation follows the tradition of Georg Simmel or Lucius Burckhardt, but in going beyond theoretical concepts today, it allows for the broadening of urban approaches toward creating connections, supporting ecological systems, and also manoeuvring within them, to take on a creative approach and re-think principles in response to emerging needs and visions.

The ideas of reshaping the line of land and water are not only conceivable today but also feasible in many cities since the withdrawal of shipyard and harbour industries reveals vast empty areas to be incorporated into the systems of urban spaces. Thus, the strategies of actively operating on water lines that would be difficult if not impossible to accomplish in a dense city structure, can now be implemented in new post-industrial areas. Reshaping water corridors and basins, no matter how innovative it may seem today, refers directly to the ancient processes of city transformation in which new areas, where possible, were embraced by the lines of water and then changed into a habitable space.

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Reshaping the line of land and water

Modification of the line of land and water triggers vast new potential and allows for interesting and sustainable incorporation of new areas into an existing urban form. Recently, this phenomenon has received wider attention. Accordingly, the contour of the line between land and water is actively negotiated in recent waterfront development strategies, while in comparison, even a decade ago, such an approach would have been considered unique. It is steadily discovered that new water systems appear to be a powerful for urban restructuring. Water links prove to be an extremely effective agent in establishing new connectivity patterns in public spaces. Additionally, extending water systems into the land creates opportunities to expose industrial heritage and reposition precious historical areas by altering the arrangement of water. Attractiveness of local housing environments in proximity to water is unquestionable to investors and future inhabitants. What is more, introducing new canals gives a chance of proposing groundwater remediation and integration of projects with rainwater management strategies. Finally, the discovery of water as a phenomenal component of the city has resulted in the current focus of ongoing projects to enrich urban experience with the occurrence of water.

There remain numerous problems to be solved and challenges to be undertaken in the process of water-land borderline mediation. The awareness of hydrological pre-conditions is always a decisive factor, as well as the necessity of integrating urban concepts with anti-flood management policy. Water should never be regarded as an architectural “liquid”, but as a part of a complex ecological system, and with the recognition of expected sedimentation changes as a valid component of the process. Many issues that need to be addressed include the question of how to accommodate urban visions in flood protection environmental assessment, how to solve conflicts with underground ducts and pipes, and where to provide additional water locks while connecting different water systems.

Despite the many issues and challenges, the process of water rearrangement is advantageous and there are a steadily

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q. Nordhavnen in Copenhagen, the existing structure of the post-industrial areas

r. Nordhavnen urban development plans with the vast reclaimed land areas and coherent system of canals and islands

growing number of projects where urban waterfront renovation includes substantial water-land relation rearrangements.

The plan for the Copenhagen Waterfront is one of the most spectacular examples. The process has accelerated since 2008, when the open ideas competition for Nordhavnen was launched. This post-industrial area, the last flank of the city exposed to the north and bravely protruding into the sea, became the object of the most adventurous experiments with water rearrangements. The focus of the competition was to receive maximum benefit from the proximity of water. The structure of existing water canals and basins have been changed, but also new vast land has been reclaimed to the north of the peninsula. The canals that once inserted into the land from either side of the peninsula, now cut entirely through it and split the land into a series of well-connected islands. Water gaps between islands, some of them narrow, others widely open, offer a plethora of opportunities for

floating house settlements, water boulevards, bridges, recreational areas and parks.

The way to the realisation of such adventurous concepts has been a long process lasting for more than a decade. One of the pioneering projects was the post-industrial urban development of Java Island in Amsterdam undertaken in the early 90s. Several urban and architectural development plans were presented but considered too dull, until the idea appeared to introduce four small canals partitioning the island into five sections. Once the idea was accepted, the project was realised rapidly. About a decade later in 2007, plans for Rotterdam Watercity 2035 were presented. Flood risk was a major leading factor, but also the need for creating more heterogeneous environments that could attract inhabitants and strengthen the city’s identity. Water was presented as a chance of making the city more attractive. The proposal for

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s. The new canal approaching the Liverpool Museum

t. Liverpool, the layout of the new canal at the Pier Head

the area of so-called River City, which was to emerge in the post-industrial areas adjacent to the Maas river, was to build on the structure of existing and newly designed waterways.

As a result, the project cut extensively into the land providing new patterns of pedestrian movement and unique living conditions for local housing environments.

links the North with South Docks, which have been isolated from each other since the end of the nineteenth century. The new waterway connects the docks but does not use any of the original channels. Its shape and exact route has been defined precisely to merge with the form of the Liverpool Museum to let people enjoy the public spaces around.

Quite often waterfront regeneration projects involve the recreation of old water connections. The idea is always the same. In the past, the canals used to serve industry – now they play a vital role in the strategies of re-connecting the city.

A motto that can be cited in many cases is “Let the water flow, then the life will flow too” – the motto of the project aimed at rediscovering water in the historic city centre of Breda. Liverpool is a very good example of successful reconnection of the waterfront area by linking up the severed water basins.

To achieve that, an additional canal has been created that

In Gdańsk, the experience of water in the post-shipyard area constituting the new waterfront of the city is almost nonexistent despite an extremely rich archaeology of water lines and basins. In fact, the history of that part of the city has always been strongly identified by a close relation to water.

Being the reclaimed land from the marshlands of the Vistula River, it was cut by a system of moats complementing bastion fortifications. When the fortifications were disassembled to give space for the Imperial Shipyard, some of the moats were transformed into industry basins, many disappeared,

and new ones were added. Despite many later transformations and reconfigurations resulting in various changes in the arrangement of water lines and basins, the landscape remained clearly identifiable. The potential of revealing traces of the former water canals could be enormous; most of all, they could provide strong links with the existing city structure and be used for the broader strategy of re-connecting the city with the river. In spite of the strong lobbying mainly from the side of architects, the municipality did not consider regaining any of the former waterways. As a result, water is practically not present in the officially acclaimed urban development plans for the post-shipyard area.

On the other hand, changing the relation between land and water does not always manifest itself in restricted, well-defined forms. Partial re-naturalization of post-industrial waterfront areas and their transformation into water parks forms

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Reshaping the line of land and water

u. The rich archaeology of water in the post-shipyard area in Gdańsk

v. The reduced role of water in Gdańsk waterfront development plan

a noticeable group of experiments reshaping urban waterfronts. These kinds of strategies are usually supported by an awareness of climate change and sustainability objectives.

They coincide with flood protection measures, rainwater management plans, and often they assume the uncovering of smaller brooks and offer groundwater remediation. The effects could be splendid, with new recreational and wetland areas taking shape, like for example in the case of Don River Park connected with the existing Lake Ontario waterfront in Toronto.

landscapes. Redefined by a new distribution of water, they may contribute significantly to the identification and urban development of the whole cities by re-connecting them to shores of seas and rivers and bringing about something unexpected and unique. Undertaking the efforts of land-water borderline modification could mean taking part in the centuries-long process of questioning the unequivocal divisions between land and water. It would convey to future generations, that the form of the port city has always been our negotiation with water, which remains as well our duty. ■

On the whole, despite all the challenges, broadening urban waterfront development concepts with water planning strategies is worthwhile. Although the ideas of drawing on water may seem more than brave and even autocratic, it is worthwhile to realise that most of the areas presently regarded as waterfronts are in prevailing numbers man-constructed

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Bibliography: 1. Huisman J.: Water in Historic City Centres. Uitgeverij Van Kemenade 2007.

2. Gautier C., Jolles A.: Eastern Harbour District Amsterdam.

NAi Publishers, Rotterdam 2003.

3. Nordhavenen. Brief Open International Ideas Competition.

Copenhagen 2008.

4. Nyka L.: Architecture and Water – New Concepts on Blurring Borders. W: Water for urban strategies. (Ed. L. Nyka).

Weimar: Verlag der Bauhaus-Univerität Weimar 2007, str.

20-27.

5. Nyka L., Szczepański J.: Re-gaining Gdańsk’s water spaces – cultural projects for urban regeneration. In: On the Waterfront: Culture, Heritage and Regeneration of Port Cities. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/on-thewaterfront.

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Cities and Rivers

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text João Santa-Rita from Santa-Rita Arquitectos Studio [Portugal]

Cities and Rivers The foundation of the cities took place for several reasons, but there was always present the definition of a strategic location.

The paths, the routes, the domain of the surroundings have been among other factors, determinant for its construction.

The rivers naturally complied and filled many of these ambitions, allowing a steady relationship and connection with villages, cities and other nations. In numerous times they have also formed obstacles and barriers that functioned as both protection and defense.

The City of Lisbon combines two facts the River and the Ocean, the Tagus and the Atlantic. This reality would draw the destiny of all its history and of its citizens and somehow of the whole nation. History and everything else would have been so different if Lisbon was not where it is.

Today when many of the aspects that constitute much of Lisbon’s past have been put aside and exceeded, the city seeks and desires a new relationship with the river and the ocean.

Its port, commercial and touristic vocation is certainly a unique condition to this desired relationship.

We look for possible openings, voids and spaces in which not only fit other uses and activities but that also provide the possibility of a physical and visual relationship between the city and the river. In fact the river can not only be understood as a mean of transition, but also, for the Man of today, as a mean of contemplation.

The pier of columns, at Terreiro do Paço within the renewed Praça do Comércio, is a daily point of convergence, of citizens and visitors, for looking at the river and to enjoy its presence, as if this experience is enough as a result of its existence.

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Cities and Rivers

Those who go there every day to look at the river certainly not only do not understand the extent of its presence, from a physical and economic point of view, as well as in its waters they don’t certainly recognize the extent of the tragedies that it has performed.

x. Terreiro do Paço

The earthquake of 1st December, 1755 was a turning point in the history of the country and the city. For the Lisbon inhabitants this fact is a kind of presence not known and not lived experience, in their everyday life yet is always remembered and much spoken when there is some catastrophe of a similar nature even in other far away places.

The post-earthquake Lisbon could have taken many different shapes and could have been developed in another way, perhaps occupying less adverse and problematic areas.

However the reconstruction of its downtown not only attests the power and persistence on that occupation throughout history, but it also introduced a new way of thinking, designing

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and even building. The earthquake allowed us to reflect and certainly to bring to the city a new set of urban and architectural solutions, which we encounter in our daily lives as citizens, as well as architects.

We will never stop looking at the city with respect, like one who looks with admiration the courage of those decisions and the opportunity to fulfill them.

The city was built in a simple and complex way, through a imposed system, which was forced to find its space, its first territory and to dialogue with its boundaries, establishing a diverse and a rich set of ways to integrate the surrounding areas.

After 250 years, the downtown is again a dramatic place, result of its inability to respond economically, socially and politically to a general state of urban bankruptcy of many of its uses and spaces.

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Cities and Rivers

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“Today [...] the city seeks and desires a new relationship with the river and the ocean. [...] We look for possible openings, voids and spaces” In that context a reflection about the rebuilt area after the earthquake as well as its past is also an opportunity to, more than just think in its future, reflect about many areas of Lisbon, still imperfect and incomplete in its relationship with the Tagus River.

A reflection in which fits the problematic issues of its very recent past, as well as the present. How to build in the “down town areas of Lisbon”, how to take advantage of the already scarce fronts that will make possible the strengthening of the city’s riverside condition.

To look at the river will not be an end in itself, however what you see can also be pursued and achieved and the presence of the river will not be spent, in a simple matter of materiality.

It is primarily a matter of physical and historical dimension, a matter of looking at the distance between the banks as a space that escapes our control, which interferes in our life without, however, one having a direct experience of living it. The river as the Ocean in Solaris of Stanislaw Lem is an enormous mass that accompanies us and that we got used to look at like those who search pleasure or those who search to find a simple answer, to the suspicious that its presence provokes us.

Lisbon has now a significant number of areas that are liable to contribute to a recreation of its relationship with the River.

A set of actions and recent projects, now a bit delayed, still dream, though in different ways, about this relationship so often claimed.

Rethinking downtown is thus a starting point to a reflection that could be extended by exploring the potential of other sites that are still lane riverside city. ■

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Docapesca Waste [Land] Scape

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Docapesca Waste [Land] Scape Teachers: António Louro Bernardo Vaz Pinto Eliana Santos Students: Christos Trigonakis Daniela Palma Diogo Fonseca Ewa Sowinska Gonçalo Casqueiro Grettel Segura Rutger Browers

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8.1. 8.2. 8.3. Site

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site

analysis

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8.4. Connection

8.5. Views

8.6. Axes

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8.7. Conceptual Masterplan

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concept

concept

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8.8. Concept - Diagram of functions

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Program - Maritime Office / Sailing School; - Bar/Restaurants; - Cinema; - Artist Community; - Open Field; - Beach; - Swimming Pools; - Gardening Bridge; - Champalimaud Foundation Utilities; - Library / Education Space; - Recreation Area; - Area connected with Optimus Alive Festival.

8.9. Program

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program

concept

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8.10. Terrein

8.11. Green Area

8.12. Raising the Green Area

8.13. Creating Axis that intersects the Buildings and Green Areas

8.14. Opening Bays that provide paths

8.15. Transfer the Paths to the Dosk to create passages

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8.16. Master proposal

Docapesca Waste [Land] Scape

proposal

proposal

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8.17. Proposal Plan - Pedestrian and Cycle Paths

8.18. Proposal Plan - Roads and Parking

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Docapesca Waste [Land] Scape

8.19. 8.20. 8.21. Beach

8.22. Landscape - Before

8.23. Landscape - After

views

views

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8.24. Harbor - Before

8.25. Harbor - After

8.26. Water Garden - Before

8.27. Water Garden - After

project team

Bridging Docapesca

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Bridging Docapesca Teachers: Françoise Py

Students: Carlos Martins Cristina Munteanu Michael Stankiewicz Miguel Ribeiro Pedro Snow Seçil Ozcan Sophie Rithter

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Bridging Docapesca

analysis

9.1. Limits

9.2. Scheduled demolishing

9.3. Preservation

9.4. Site

analysis

Bridging Docapesca

What to do?

Who to connect?

Why? 9.5. Diagrams with the different possibilities

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9.6. Cluster

Cluster [definition] A number of things of the same kind growing together;

9.7. Concept - Biomarinescope

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concept

analysis

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9.8. Points to connect

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9.9. Program scheme

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program

biomarinescope

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9.10. View of the proposal

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Bridging Docapesca

9.12. First phase

9.13. Second phase

9.11. Biomarinescope - evolution

9.14. Third phase

biomarinescope

biomarinescope

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9.15. Biomarinescope - Connections

9.16. Biomarinescope - views

9.17. Biomarinescope - Entrance

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9.18. Commercial area - Analysis

Bridging Docapesca

commercial area

commercial area

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9.19. Commercial area - Growth over time

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9.20. Views of the commercial area

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commercial area

proposal

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9.21. Connetions in the proposal

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9.22. Proposed bridges

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proposal

general facts

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9.23. Evolution of the area

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Considerations Around the Terrain Vague

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text Luís Santiago Baptista MA from Lusófona University of Lisbon

Considerations Around the Terrain Vague

Today, intervention in the existing city, in its residual spaces, in its folded interstices can no longer be either confortable or efficacious in the manner postulated by the modern movement’s efficient model of the enlightened tradition. How can architecture act in the terrain vague without becoming an aggressive instrument of power and abstract reason?

Ignasi de Sola-Morales, “Terrain Vague”, 1995

In 1995 it was published the essay “terrain vague” by Ignasi de Solà-Morales. This amazing text was edited in the fourth book-catalogue of the ambitious Any conferences that, under the pretext of discussing the condition of architecture in the transition of the Millennium, travelled the planet each year throughout the 1990’s, bringing together an impressive range of architects, artists, historians, philosophers, etc.

The essay of the Spanish architect and critic appeared so eccentric in the 4th Conference, held at the CCA in Montréal in Canada, on the theme Anyplace. The truth is that this was a peculiar text in the ambit of the Any program and even in the disciplinary context of the time. When the issues on debate were the creative freedom of the architect in the society, the strategic rapprochement between archi-

tecture and the arts, the impact of new computational technologies in architectural design, the architectural application of the philosophical theories of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze, the speculative proposals of an emerging virtual world, etc, the essay of the Spanish critic revealed a fundamental dislocation in relation to the disciplinary zeitgeist. In contrast to the spirit of the time, with their affirmative theoretical and practical proposals, the text “terrain vague” was strangely devoid of purposeful vocation. Above all, it featured a set of theoretical propositions and critical reflections, structured freely and without apparent purpose. But, besides this absence of a programmatic point of view, the Solà-Morales’ essay was fully intentional in the challenge of the theme Anyplace. In the discussion of the contemporary status of place,

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the Spanish critic drew attention to those empty, disaffected and unoccupied spaces in the cities, giving them a decisive role in the perception and comprehension of the contemporary existential condition. For Solà-Morales, first of all, the terrain vague confronted us with the subject’s “anxiety” and the “strangeness” of the world, expressing the radical displacement that unavoidable emerged with modernity.

Solà-Morales defined the terrain vague as those “empty”, “abandoned” spaces, noting “the condition of these spaces as internal to the city yet external to its everyday use.” The terrain vague comprised the “unincorporated margins, interior islands void of activity, oversigths, these areas are simply un-inhabited, un-safe, un-productive”. However, for the Spanish critic, these spaces were also spaces of possibility.

To argue it, Solà-Morales called for the double meaning of the French term “vague” as both “vacant” and “vague”. Vacant in the sense of “absence of use, of activity”, so “void, yet also promise, the space of the possible, of expectation”.

And vague in the sense that “(…) this absence of limit precisely contains the expectations of mobility, vagrant roving, free time, liberty”. In a sense, these “expectant, imprecise, fluctuating” spaces in large cities, though indeterminate and invisible, could better than any other, characterize and define the contemporary urbanity. As a shadow or a ghost of the existing city the terrain vague could not only reveal their uncanny true reality, but also release its liberating hidden potential. Therefore, the terrain vague, as a condition of absence, implied a repressed urban presence.

In fact, Solà-Morales had drawn his attention to the terrain vague from the growing interest, enthusiasm and fascination that contemporary artistic practices, in particular photography and cinema, began to reveal by those territories in the margins and interstices of the metropolis. On the other hand, it could not be innocent that the essay was illustrated with images of the terrains vagues of Berlin, spaces that were marked by a history of violence and destruction and in consequence brutally divided in its own interior by a self-present

Considerations Around the Terrain Vague

continuous linear wall. However, the vision of Solà-Morales on urban reality, illustrated by the example of Berlin, was not properly romantic or nostalgic. The look to the terrain vague was essentially one of astonishment and perplexity, regarding the intuition that the reunification of the city, as a celebration of a unified Germany, was leading towards an irreversible disappearance of its presence and erasure of its memory. Submerged in an intrinsic “negativity”, the focus on the terrain vague would arise precisely as an attempt to bring to light these realities condemned to oblivion.

“Therefore, the terrain vague, as a condition of absence, implied a repressed urban presence. ” But beyond the strength of the chosen example, Solà-Morales’ essay raised the fundamental question at a universal level: “what is to be done with these enormous voids, with their imprecise limits and vague definition?” And this was not merely a rhetorical question that then would introduce an alleged answer or solution already known. In fact, this issue did not derive from lack of attention or indifference to these particular places of contemporary urban reality, which we must say would be easily solved by mere awareness of its existence. Notabily, the Spanish critic pointed out the ambiguous and contradictory position of the architect, with its task of organizing, ordering and edifying, occupies in the field of urban production: “In this situation the role of the architect is inevitably problematic. Architecture’s

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destiny has always been colonization, the imposing of limits, order, and form, the introduction into strange space of elements of identity necessary to make it recognizable, identical, universal. In essence, architecture acts as an instrument of organization, of racionalization, and of productive efficiency capable of transforming the uncivilized into the cultivated, the fallow into the productive, the void into the built.”

It is, in fact, this problematic but lucid consciousness of the work of the architect over the terrain vague that gives this seminal essay, as we shall see, an extraordinary actuality and a decisive importance to the discipline. To destabilize the foundations of architecture as an act eminently efficient and constructive, Solà-Morales put the question mark not only in the real world but primarily in the architect’s own head. Naturally to know what to do with these spaces is a primordial task of the architect, but paradoxically, to undertake it, the architect would have to see through other lenses and beyond his traditional expertise. To Solà-Morales, this change of perspective could open up new potentials, other possibilities to act upon reality, and ultimately to understand the world.

Therefore, these territories that are apparently useless, neglected and even dangerous, held the power to reactivate simultaneously this apocalyptic and liberating vocation that always accompanied modernity, constituting “both the physical expression of our fear and insecurity and our expectation of the other, the alternative, the utopian, the future”.

In general terms, this deliberate recovery of Ignasi de SolàMorales’ essay enable us to critically approach the phenomenon of rehabilitation of cities in general, and the intervention in waterfronts in particular, taking as example the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. And this consideration of the terrain vague can work here not only as a warning to a pressing problem, but also a call to a realignment of perspective, made urgent by the recent global crisis. To start with, emerges the question of what to do with these large urban areas resulting from the dismantling of heavy port infrastructure and obsolete industrial complexes. Intervention models in these

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Considerations Around the Terrain Vague

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disused and derelict areas in general have demanded the elaboration of masterplans that would lead development and urbanisation according to an expansive economic and speculative process. In fact, these are areas of high real estate value, in which the authorities try to combine the development of significant parcels of the existing city fabric with large-scale economic and financial operations. In this context, the role of architect is focused on the spacial and environmental qualification of these drastic transformation plans, without questioning the initial assumptions and goals of all the urban, economic and social operation. It is precisely this expansive model of development and this passive role of the architect that today we believe are starting to be put in question.

In the aforementioned case of Lisbon, some important questions arise concerning these development models in the planning of the city that is reflected in the projects, carried out and proposed, for the multiple waterfronts of the capital metropolitan area. It is true that the several operations in these urban areas have had very positive aspects relating to the market economic dynamics and to the urban space qualification, where the logics of the masterplan is the privileged instrument of rehabilitation. However, these interventions have also revealed relevant limitations and weaknesses at a series of different levels. Firstly, in ideological terms, these sectorial plans have revealed a tendency for the submission of the public will to private interests, turning the aims behind the urban regeneration sometimes ambiguous or even contradictory. Secondly, in territorial terms, the areas defined for urbanization in regional plans in Portugal in general and in Lisbon in particular, surpass outrageously the most optimistic demographic statistics, a situation that turns out to have serious implications on the dispersion and fragmentation of the occupation of the territory. Thirdly, in terms of real estate, this exponential increase in housing, commercial and office building supply in the margins and interstices of the city, with its instant new centralities megalomania, has perverse effects on the progressive desertification of historical

y. Margueira Photographed by Hugo Vieira

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z. Barreiro Photographed by Hugo Vieira

Considerations Around the Terrain Vague

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Considerations Around the Terrain Vague

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“what is to be done with these enormous voids, with their imprecise limits and vague definition? ” centres and in the consequent ineffectiveness of circulatory networks of metropolitan areas. Fourthly, in methodological terms, the transformative power of these plans has revealed a enormous difficulty in escaping the generalized strategies of tabula rasa, rendering any memory of place to a mere caricature. Fifthly, in social terms, these large urban operations have resulted in urban environments that develop certain logics of social segregation, largely for the benefit of higher and affluent social extracts.

It is against this background, that Solà-Morales’ terrain vague may here become pertinent and opportune. The truth is that his not conclusive reflections of the mid-1990s have acquired today a new relevance. This relevance can be seized in an

integrated body of knowledge and practices which, although structurally open and trans-disciplinary, constitute a broad comprehensive hypothesis of another approach and alternative program. In this first decade of the 21st century, in the field of architecture, the signs have been accumulating and interweaving, to the point of internalization of strong utopian traces and visionary tones. In fact, the ecological and social concerns of the issues around sustainability, the public investment in infrastructural networks and platforms, the development of urban agriculture production practices, the ephemeral and collective appropriation of urban reality, the artistic, activist and subversive actions in public space, the stimulus to effective and direct involvement of local populations, the growing interest in the study and documentation

of the lived reality, etc, converge in more open and plural strategies of urban intervention. In the limit, this changing perspective announces the emergence of spatial practices more locally active, more informally creative and more socially participated. And these can have a crucial role in terrains vagues’ revitalization. Transforming them, but keeping the tangible and intangible presence of their memory. Appropriating them, but intensifying their structural connections with local life. Inhabiting them, but multiplying and pluralizing their valences and users. This may indeed be the real challenge of Solà-Morales’ terrain vague, paying “attention to continuity: not the continuity of the planned, efficient, and legitimated city but of the flows, the energies, the rhythms established by the passing of time and the loss of limits.” ■

team project

Margueira - Bac Scape

206

Margueira

Bac Scape Teachers: Filipe Afondo Luís Santiago Baptista Pedro Ressano Garcia Students: Elina Letsiou Geertjan Wolfs Gonçalo Aniceto Hugo Vieira Irena Nowacka Maria Ave Romani Umut Baykan

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Context

10.1. Keywords

Margueira - Bac Scape

Concept

Connections

Water levels

keywords

Levels functions

Geological excavation

Open spaces

Natural Invasion

context

Margueira - Bac Scape

10.2. Original landscape

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10.3. Urban prosthesis - Lisnave

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10.4. Panoramic views of Margueira

Margueira - Bac Scape

context

context

Margueira - Bac Scape

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10.5. Color paniramic

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Margueira - Bac Scape

concept

Between context and concept Site specific inspirition: seewt water bacteria Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (Tejo river). Structure resembling a network that interconnetc bacterias.

10.6. Nature already has a solution

concept

Margueira - Bac Scape

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10.7. Bacteria

Microlonies becomes communities As early as 30 min, individual bacteria have already attached to the plastic surface and formed small clumps (arrows).

A type of bacteria, which is part of river water system. Has the capability of cleaning up water polluted with heavy metals such as copper, cadmium, and lead.

10.8. Concept

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Water treatment

Margueira - Bac Scape

Green areas - open spaces

10.9. Network of different functions

10.10. Bacteria patterns

3 dimensional network relating functionalities Experimentation of bacteria pattern, it represents the fabric of new area and the connection system with the city.

Agriculture - built environment

concept

concept

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The new urban fabric which constitutes both the connection network and the network of functions.

An urban fabric that breaks and changes the rigid border of the area.

10.11. Concept

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10.12. Barrier - main connections

Margueira - Bac Scape

connections

water levels

Margueira - Bac Scape

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10.13. Water levels

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10.14. Levels functions - program brief for land uses

Margueira - Bac Scape

land uses

geological excavation

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10.15. Geological escavation

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10.16. Food and water production

Margueira - Bac Scape

open spaces

open spaces

Margueira - Bac Scape

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10.17. Ope spaces

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10.18. Masterplan

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masterplan

proposal

Margueira - Bac Scape

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10.19. General Views of the proposal

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10.20. View of the proposal

Margueira - Bac Scape

masterplan

proposal

Margueira - Bac Scape

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10.21. View of the proposal

team project

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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Margueira Heritage Rebirth Teachers: Dirk Schubert Renee Tribble Students: Agata Opolska Gonçalo Silva Konstantinos Dimopoulos Sevde Gunen Sofia Laia Soumia El Ghazouani

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11.1. Lisnave Shipyard

11.2. Warehouses and Offices

11.3. Panoramic View

11.4. Docks

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

the site

analysis

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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11.5. Connections

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11.6. Atraction Points

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

analysis

analysis

11.7. Waterfront

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

11.8. Green Areas

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11.9. Connections

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11.10. Different Facilities

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

analysis

11.11. Barriers

proposal

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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11.12. Intervention Area

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Margueira Heritage Rebirth

strategy

Promote the Industrial Heritage of Margueira

11.13. Industrial Heritage

strategy

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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11.14. Memory

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Margueira Heritage Rebirth

New uses for container - Restaurants, Bars, Shops, Houses

Business Incubator

Covered Garden 11.15. Funcional Program

program

program

Open Spaces Green Spaces Green Roofs Office Buildings Residencial Buildings Recreation Areas The height of the buildings following the landscape 11.16. Program

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11.17. Basic Development

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11.18. Green Connections

proposal

11.19. New Funcional Facilities

views

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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11.20. Panoramic Views

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11.21. Masterplan

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

masterplan

masterplan

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2.13. Containers

2.13. Covered Garden

2.13. Museum

11.22. Business Facilities

11.23. Library

11.24. Theater

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11.25. Containers

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

views

view

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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11.26. General View

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11.27. Mudeum

11.28. Library

Margueira Heritage Rebirth

views

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Ferry Terminal of Terreiro do Paço

text Ana Costa from Dassiano Costa Studio [Portugal]

Ferry Terminal of Terreiro do Paço

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Ferry Terminal of Terreiro do Paço

The South and Southeast Station The previous existing buildings from the existing interface is formed by the “River Interface of Terreiro do Paço” – an urban terminal of rail lines from South and Southeast, departing from Barreiro designed by the architect José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo (1928). By the time of its conclusion (1932), this was the first officialy promoted equipment available to the public with an expression of international modernism.

The growth of the river traffic and the subsequent changes in the services gave way to a complex of different needs that led to the construction of successive enlargements and adaptations, not always in articulation with the original building and with a constructive and architectural quality which is much lower.

aa. Sketches

bb. 3D model

paper

paper

The project The construction of the Lisbon metropolitan station in Terreiro do Paço was the fundamental pretext for launching this important project of Amendment and Extension of the existing station. The exploration principles have been reformulated in light of new data – especially the scale of expected flows - seeking to ensure the levels of effectiveness, accessibility, security and comfort suitable for such equipment, according to current standards. The new programmatic needs were defined concerning circulation spaces and of public permanence, exploration services and support services. It was critically evaluated the capacity of existing buildings and spaces to measure up to the new necessities in a balanced way and respecting by its vocation and original architectural characteristics.

Ferry Terminal of Terreiro do Paço

The original main body of the building of the River Interface of Terreiro do Paço, designed by architect Cottinelli Telmo will be fully recovered, maintaining its functions of large atrium /lobby of the interface and its quality of representation of space.

Concerning the body at East, of the former baggage room of the original building, will function as the main lobby of passengers, reproducing the scale and size of the main building, with generous space for the expected pressure from large passenger flows generated by the new exit of the metropolitan.

The construction of the new building adjacent to the new lobby, designed to service and trade areas, will be featured as a

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monitoring building, devoid of expression.

Between the layout of the facade of the River Interface (river side) and the edge of the pier, in the space currently occupied by a heterogeneous set of dissonant and degraded buildings, it will be built a longitudinal structure with an dominant horizontal language, designed to contain the waiting rooms and to establish the joint between the boarding pontoons and the halls, ticket offices and other functional areas.

It is intended that this body constitutes a unified front to approach from the river and to submit an independent expression of the original building from the River Interface. The volumetry of this new structure ensures the visibility of the River Interface building from the River.

cc. General plan

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Ferry Terminal of Terreiro do Paço

paper

“[...] the existing interface [...] was the first equipment of official promotion available to the public with an expression of international modernism.” dd. River Interface of Terreiro do Paço Photographed by Telmo Miller

paper

Ferry Terminal of Terreiro do Paço

In this project, the materials are of great importance, highlighting some of the conceptual aspects of the architectural solution.

Technical Chart

In the Earth side, the constitution of new buildings refers to a reinterpretation of the volume and proportions of the Cottinelli Telmo building. However, while in that building prevails the set of light and dark, resulting from the modeling of surfaces in a single finishing material (the white plaster), in the new building we tried to use a palette of materials which, in their combination, could reveal some subtle texture and color changes, thus preserving the clean debugged and abstract nature and of the new construction, reinforcing once again the idea of an “architecture of monitoring.”

Location: Lisbon

Thus, in the proposed solution, all the new construction directed to the square will be covered by “Viúva Lamego” tiles.

This tile “in wave” was designed specifically for this project, creating a reverberating and textured surface , that “dematerialized” the new building, looking for a smooth integration with the Pombalina surrounding and a balanced relationship with the existing main building.■

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Project: River Interface of Terreiro do Paço

Dates: 2003 ----1st phase from 2009 to 2011 Architecture: Ana Monteiro da Costa Team: Andreia Lima, Catarina Cabral, Filipe Cardoso, João Paulo Martins, Mafalda Lacerda, Maria Carvalho, Teresa Costa Client: Lisbon Metropolitan 3D images: David Lacerda Photography: Telmo Miller, photography FG+SG architecture photographer

ee. River Interface of Terreiro do Paço Photographed by Telmo Miller

team project

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

252

Poço do Bispo Crossing Borders Teachers: Lechoslaw Czernik Zbigniew Paszkowski Students: Bruno Salgueiro Gizem Uzun Gonçalo Ferreira Hylke Broekema Jacopo Solari Lisa Deipenbrock Marcin Lapka Naya Moutaftsi

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12.1. Past_Present_Future

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

past_present_future

warehouses_docks

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

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12.2. Warehouses_Dock

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12.3. Industrial_Factories_Container Area

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

industrial_factories_containers area

heritage_public spaces_green areas

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

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12.4. Heritage_Public Spaces_Green Areas

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Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

analysis

Abandoned areas mixed use: storage, living, commercial Living Storage Industrial area Leisure Industrial area with unsure state

Main road Secondary roads Neighborhood roads railway 12.5. Transportation_Existing Access

12.8. Economical layer

Abandoned areas mixed use: storage, living, commercial Living Storage Industrial area Leisure Industrial area with unsure state Social layer Residential layer Industrial layer 12.6. Borders

12.9. Economical layer - proposal

Abandoned areas Abandoned buildings / Status unsure 12.7. Abandoned areas

case study

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

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12.10. Case study - Similar approaches

259

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

concept

Existing roads New Connections Pedestrian Way Railway Waterfront Line

12.11. Eliminationg boundaries

12.14. New connections - Transportation_Pedestriam way

12.12. Transportation

12.15. Green Platforms Concept - Connection_Central Park_Waterfront

12.13. Functions

12.16. New connections and the Green Platform

masterplan

12.17. Masterplan - Phase 1

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

12.18. Masterplan - Phase 2

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12.19. Masterplan - Phase 3

12.20. Masterplan

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12.21. Central Park

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

masterplan

views

12.22. 3D views of the Park Residence

Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

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team project

Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

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Poço do Bispo Beyond the Barriers Teachers: Aysu Akalin Margarida Valla Tayfun Yildirim Students: Elvan Erdem Evangelos Gkoumas Joana Melo João Carvalho Pawel Kochanski Vincent Lys Zoe-Pigi Dsadiri

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Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

Analysis - Disconnected from the city; - Urban Gap; - Industrial area; - Aged population.

Proposal - Define the boundary of our intervention; - Study the urban tissue of the site and its relation with the waterfront (weak points and potentials of the site).

13.1. Points of interest and intention to connect the downtown and Parque Expo to the site

analysis

analysis

Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

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Los/Middle Residentials Commercial / Office / High quality Residential Waterfront Tagus River 13.2. Evaluation of the usages of the área

13.3. Analisys of the barriers and intention to transpone them

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13.4. Concept and form to the connections of the proposal

Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

concept

concept

Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

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6.9. Recycling existing buildings (public pool)

13.5. Recycling existing buildings (skatepark)

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13.6. Recycling existing buildings (street art)

13.7. Recycling existing buildings (silos into museums or other cultural facilities)

Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

concept

masterplan

Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

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13.8. Masterplan

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13.9. Masterplan with functions

Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

masterplan

proposal

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13.10. Model of the connections to the river

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13.11. Proposal (overview)

13.12. Main points of the connections

13.13. Paths and links

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13.14. Proposal

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13.15. Proposal for containers recycling

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13.16. Proposal

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Symbiotic Integration Working Out a Sustainable Urban Ribeiro for Barreiro

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text Prof. Alkmini Paka Prof. Anastasia Tzaka Prof. Nikos Kalogirou from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Faculty of Engineering - School of Architecture [Greece]

Symbiotic Integration Working Out a Sustainable Urban Repair for Barreiro Barreiro used to be one of the largest heavy industrial sites of the Iberian Peninsula. Situated opposite to the city of Lisbon, across the river Tagus, it went under a significant deindustrialization phase after the 80s’. The large industrial building complexes for cement, steel, chemicals and alimentation products, extend today along the docks in a derelict and underused state, while the municipality has prepared a regeneration plan for the area. The industrial activity has left the sea and land in a considerably deteriorated condition from an environmental point of view.

I. Understanding the site and context The residential quarters of the city with the picturesque historic center and the modern developments form a continuous urban fabric of relatively low density. It is a rectangular/grid plan, limited on its four sides by the waterfront, the natural reserve area of the marshes, the railway warehouses and infrastructure and finally the industrial zone. Inside the grid of the building blocks, two main axes stand out, the linear community and the commercial centers of the urban fabric, which both have as their perspective the view to the sea. The city has an introvert character, despite the recently redeveloped waterfront to the north, while points of discontinuity and lack of orientation are common on the main waterfront itinerary from the arrival point of the ferry station to the center.

The proposed master plan for the transformation of the industrial zone into a residential quarter extends out of the major site of intervention, proposing corridors of green axes that will help linking the new developments to the future train, car and ferry transportation network. Despite the sustainable and green landscape proposed for these corridors, the actual integration of the existing fabric seems to be ignored while new interventions focus exclusively on the new developments.

Inside the new residential quarters, the urban plan and architecture introduces two types of a uniform grid that seems to ignore the scale, diversity and character of the existing fabric, while its overall scale rivals that of the present city. The industrial heritage of the site is completely wiped out, conserving only the workers’ residential quarter created by Alfredo

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da Silva, the founder of the most important factories of the area. The new urban transport infrastructure will procure the possibility of a profitable investment through the new housing developments, expected to attract new residents seeking lower real estate prices and commuting daily to Lisbon to work. The little interaction previewed between new and old residents of the area, gives to the proposed project a latent perspective of a gentrification operation.

II. Identifying new strategies and areas of intervention Defining new strategies and design tools, towards the objective of further empowering urban actors of all types, was the main aim of the group of students working on the area of Barreiro. After analyzing and rejecting the main guidelines of the new masterplan for Quimipark the team focused on the elaboration of a concept designating a new overall scheme for the area, while nodes for specific key design interventions were proposed in the perspective of an urban repair operation for the existing urban fabric. Eventual new developments could be viewed within this perspective. Design, on an urban or architectural scale, can be the key to unlocking neglected urban spaces, restoring lost relationships and facilitating the adaptation of a derelict fabric to new uses. There is no one person in charge of the post-modern city; the age of the single authority in absolute charge of the vast city is over and change occurs piecemeal. Specific urban projects can have a far more extended impact on the city regardless of their scale.

Within this perspective and having as a goal the elaboration of a sustainable model of urban development that will create an opportunity for improving quality of life in the city, the team designated three areas of design interventions for restructuring the existing fabric to address changing urban dynamics. These areas within the existing city, where maximum lack of orientation and character was detected, areas of urban voids pointed out during the analysis, were the nodes of the new proposed concept at an urban scale. A series of smaller scale design proposals focused on the elaboration

Symbiotic Integration Working Out a Sustainable Urban Ribeiro for Barreiro

of an architectural idiom coping with the proposed general scheme for the entire urban fabric.

III. New networked urbanity – Three key nodes According to the above mentioned criteria, three key areas along the waterfront were selected to be redesigned as nodal points of a new network of public spaces that would generate positive synergies between urban actors, places and events.

Students proposed here three mixed-use urban projects that work on multiple spatial and temporal scales –from local to global, from historical to prospective - introducing a new planning approach of networked urbanity. These high-priority pilot projects would act as catalysts of urban rejuvenation and incubators of further urban development and economic revitalization of the district of Barreiro as a new strong sub-center in the greater metropolitan region of Lisbon. (image on p. 293) In particular, the selected sites of urban intervention include: a) The underused industrial complex on the northern edge of the district that acts currently as a strong urban barrier; b) The degraded and almost inaccessible natural reserve of marshlands to the West side; c) The abandoned railway station and the isolated main ferry terminal station areas on the South.

The corridors between these nodes also play an important role in the reactivation of the district as a whole. Issues such as public transport, car restrain in the waterfront zones, urban greening and eco-friendly modes of mobility are promoted. A new multi-modal mobility pattern is developed through new traffic networks and pedestrian and cycling routes that are designed appropriately. (image on p. 295) This enhances the sense of place identity and the continuity of the urban fabric while improving the overall quality of the urban environment.

IV. Node #1: Mixed-use transportation hub (images on p. 296) This site has been designated by the masterplan for Quimipark

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as the new location for the transportation hub of Barreiro.

According to the greater infrastructural reorganization of the metropolitan area of Lisbon, the new ferry terminal and the main train station would be relocated here, connecting faster and more efficiently the district of Barreiro to the city center.

Students, starting from this scenario, elaborated it further, proposing a more comprehensive mixed-use urban development of this transportation hub. As the identity of the site is characterized by the ex-industrial complex that makes part of the historic heritage of the district of Barreiro and is a distinct icon in the bay of Lisbon, the students’ proposal opted for the reuse, re-programing and architectural transformation of the massive abandoned silos into a new hotel and congress center. Other parts of the industrial complex could also be refurbished and reused as office or cultural spaces.

Smaller pavilions, integrated in the new scheme of urban and landscape redesign of the waterfront, would offer space for restaurants, bars and other services necessary for the revitalization of the area. The reuse of the redundant buildings’ reservoir contributes to multiple aspects of sustainability of the urban development, maintaining the local identity and heritage of the place while making the whole endeavor more socially, economically and environmentally viable.

V. Node #2: Sports and leisure park (images on p. 297) The western edge of Barreiro is characterized by the dominant presence of an important natural reserve of wetlands and low vegetation. The current condition of this green area is severely deteriorated, with evident signs of water and soil pollution and partial extinction of local flora. The area seems today neglected by the authorities and the pedestrian access to large parts of it is obstructed.

The restoration of this natural ecosystem is a long and sensitive process which is though vital for the renewal and upgrading of the Barreiro district. As a matter of course, students looked at this site through a careful environmentally sensitive approach. The sanitation of the

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“A holistic approach of sustainable urban design should consider a wide range of aspects of urban habitats and natural ecosystems.” marshlands area and its re-integration to the public space of Barreiro were highlighted as issues of high priority. Furthermore, students proposed the creation of pedestrian and cycling green lanes through this land. Floating wooden deck platforms where designed to form a network of leisure and sports trajectories.

Their proposal envisions also the development of a small sports center with accompanying services. The architectural design of this complex follows the natural topography of the site creating a new artificial landscape of organically shaped green roofs. This approach allows for the dissolving of the architectural figures into the ground and their flowing into the landscape. The vegetation on the roofs further enhances this effect and allows for the park to form a unique whole of green public spaces.

VI. Node #3: Cultural complex, touristic facilities and Marina (images on p. 298) The southern edge of the waterfront hosts currently some major transportation nodes, such as the main ferry terminal and the old railway station. Despite its central function, the site looks isolated, lacking visual and pedestrian connections to the urban fabric of the town. A large area is occupied by the unused railway tracks, layered automobile bridges and a parking lot for the public buses. These vast void spaces create today an image of alienation and disruption of urbanity.

Following the municipality’s scenario for a new transportation hub on the northern part of Barreiro, this land is open to ideas for reorganization and reprogramming.

Students developed some elaborate schemes for the urban transformation ofthis area. Respecting the former industrial and infrastructural identity of the place, students came up with proposals that are directed by multiple, current and future, urban dynamics. The railway station building was proposed to be retained and reused while a new complex of lowrise buildings for cultural, recreational and commercial uses was designed as a swarm formation of pavilions, following the organizational trajectories of the railway tracks.

The roof of the ferry terminal would be also reused, taking into account its recent construction and its flexibility as a structure. It could be re-appropriated to facilitate services for a new Marina to be planned in front of it. In combination with a sanitation plan for the coast and the waters, the Marina is expected to become an important attraction for local population and tourists. Hotels, offices and retail spaces would complete this development and make it further economically viable.

VII. Urban development objectives and future perspective A holistic approach of sustainable urban design should consider a wide range of aspects of urban habitats and natural ecosystems. To this end, the students’ proposal sought to incorporate diverse dynamics and actors in a process of symbiotic integration of new developments to the present urban fabric and co-existence of local and incoming populations. Individual urban strategies involved urban micro-surgery projects for the renewal of the town center and historic neighborhoods, promotion of a multi-modal network of transportation with emphasis on pedestrian lanes and cycling paths, rehabilitation of natural reserves and reuse of industrial heritage buildings. Re-positioning the district of Barreiro in the greater metropolitan network of Lisbon and strengthening its role as an important node is ultimately the aspiration of a process of sustainable urban development. ■

“Individual urban strategies involved urban micro-surgery projects for the renewal of the town center and historic neighborhoods [...]”

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Barreiro – Counter Proposals for the Future

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text Prof. Maria João Matos Prof. Inês Cabral from Lusófona University of Lisbon

Barreiro – Counter Proposals for the Future The town of Barreiro holds a unique location on the south bank of Tagus estuary, surrounded by an impressive landscape, along with a strong sense of identity. The rich heritage, related to its recent past as a prosperous industrial area, remains as a reference to the inhabitants. Very soon, the students understood that the proposal had to take into account those dimensions. Furthermore, the acquaintance with the different town spaces in situ and the readings about Barreiro’s history were decisive to the choice of this path.

The roots of a singular identity Barreiro was born as a fishermen’s village. During the 15th and 16th centuries, this place played an important role as

a manufacturing centre for different products related with the maritime Portuguese discoveries across the seas. Since then, several industrial facilities were built in this waterfront, including windmills and also cork and glass factories. In 1861, the inauguration of the railway station opened the way to the development of new industries.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the chemical and metallurgical industries, grew at a rapid pace, the CUF corporation (Companhia União Fabril) representing the biggest industrial area in Portugal. Alongside with the expansion of the industrial sector, the changes in the landscape and the transformation of the town were very significant. On the one

hand, this part of the estuary lost its natural contour and became severely polluted. On the other hand, new neighborhoods and facilities were added to the urban structure by the initiative of Alfredo da Silva, the owner of CUF. The beginning of the decline and the nationalization of the industries happened in the 1970’s.

Today, Barreiro has lost its main feature that lasted for decades. However, new important activities are taking place and a singular and new identity is arising. The intervention on the waterfront and the green park, under the POLIS Barreiro program is a good example of this change. Additionally,

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much can be done in the void space left by decaying industries: the so called Quimiparque area. This became the main challenge for the group.

A critical approach The majority of students in our working group was foreign and never had heard about Barreiro. In fact, before visiting Barreiro, the group had had a negative feedback concerning the intervention area, due to an early presentation of an Urban and Strategic Plan designed for the Municipality, by the firm RISCO. Barreiro was then described as one of the most damaged areas of the Tagus estuary.

Leaving from Lisbon with a negative perception, the group traveled to the site by boat. As soon as we arrived there, the students gradually changed their opinion. They were particularly surprised with the richness and potential of Barreiro at different levels.

Firstly, the existing privileged visual relation with the river and the north bank struck the students. Then, the variety and richness of urban patterns and uses added to the positive impression. Nevertheless, the contrast between the industrial areas side by side with the residential neighborhoods was defined as a negative fact to be changed.

A critical approach to the existing plan was the main strategy of the group, whose proposal emphasized local needs, memories, human scale, flexibility and tourism facilities as main assets, as well as the interaction of the urban area and its inhabitants with the waterfront. Those where issues that were not clearly addressed in the plan proposed by RISCO. Visons of the future The final work of the group consists of two distinct evolutionary proposals for two different scenarios in the future. Both put forward a new organization of the territory for a more sustainable development, displacing the new bridge, electing two new centers and reducing the landfill suggested by RISCO.

Barreiro – Counter Proposals for the Future

The first one is an intervention designed for an economic crisis scenario, focusing on soft changes and ecologic issues. It considers the existence of low income inhabitants and the increase of industries organized in appropriate areas, the built of social housing and social facilities, as well as the preservation of natural areas.

The second proposal predicts a context of strong economic development, alongside with a considerable growth of urbanized areas and tourist activities. Together with large scale tourism facilities (such as a marina), spaces for commercial activities, high income housing and urban green spaces are suggested.

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More than designing fixed spaces that could easily become obsolete in the uncertain economic context we are going through, the focus was on searching for new, creative and more suitable solutions for this urban territory in permanent mutation. The proposal is based on a sensitive analysis of the physical, social and cultural context of Barreiro followed by an intense debate amongst the members of the group.

Most important, it expresses the understanding, by the students, of the ever-changing world we live in, where flexibility and resilience are major features. ■

“More than designing fixed spaces that could easily become obsolete in the uncertain economic context we are going through, the focus was on searching for new, creative and more suitable solutions for this urban territory in permanent mutation. ”

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Barreiro Note the Nodes Teachers: Alkmini Paka Anastasia Tzaka Nikos Kalagirou Students: Adarsha Kapoor Daniela Silva Marta Dias Marta Majewska Mattijs Gerds Michael Velenis Yasemin Ozkiranartli

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analysis

14.1. Historical evolution

analysis

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14.2. Existing conditions

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14.3. Urban voids

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analysis

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14.4. Loss of sense of space

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Barreiro - Note the Nodes

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Strategies 1. Eco reserve Preserve as a pedestrian environment.

Redesign entry.

2. Designed water front Redesign the waterfront by reducing traffic, introducing activities, and using eco friendly materials to break the monotony 3. Incidental water front Re organize the public front with introduction of viewing deck 4. Regional park- Quimi parque 5. Commercial centre 6. Cultural center for visual and performance arts, housing and training areas for artists.

7. Heritage neighborhood Create opportunity for small restaurants by adaptive re-use of dilapidated structures 8. Neighborhood park

14.5. Conceptional routes of the area

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14.6. Reusing existing infrastructures

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14.7. Intervention areas and immediate impact zones

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proposal

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Design imperatives Retaining existing identities as memories; Reusing abandoned structures; Creating entries; Generating sense of orientation; Symbiotic integration of private and public domains through design; Adapting eco sensitive ways of design.

Concept Vision Creation of a model for sustainable urban development.

Aim Rejuvenate urban environment; Restructure fabric to address changing urban dynamics.

Objectives Strategy to integrate the site with the existing proposal; Strategy for natural and built heritage; Create opportunity for improvement of quality of urban life.

14.8. Sketches - evolution of the proposal

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14.9. Section along the waterfront

14.10. Section along the reused warehouses

14.11. Transportation diagram

node 1

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Aded areas to revitalize the area: 1. Ferry terminal 2. Hotel 3. Bars & restaurants 4. Offices 5. Fishing docks.

6. Museum 7. Train Station

14.12. Revitalize the area

14.13. Creation of transport hub

14.14. Setion with the proposal for Node 1

14.15. Creation of a cluster of linked public spaces integrated with the functions for different uses

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7.16. Concept

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node 2

7.17. 3D model

14.20. Section A

14.18. Plan 14.22. Section C

14.19. Funtions Plan

14.21. Section B

node 3

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14.23. Concept

14.25. Public space connecting all uses - pubric, semi-public and private

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14.24. 3D model of Node 3

14.26. Public and private functions co-exist within public domain

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Barreiro

BARREIRO 2011_BARREIRO 2021_BARREIRO 2036

Teachers: Maria João Matos Inês Cabral Maarten W illems Students: Ana Brás André Jacob Karolina Tarkowska Giorgios Mavridis Lemonia Karagianni Mathias Burke Muhammet R. Ayparcasi

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context

Barreiro, a town of industries In 1907, Alfredo da Silva established the first industry in Barreiro - the industry of soap. The industry developed further into other productions as well.

In1980, Alfredo da silva started to accomplish his “social program”: he built a working-class neighborhood, an health center, MIN In 1907, Alfredo da Silva established the first industry in Barreiro - the industry of soap. The industry developed further into other productions as well.

In1980, Alfredo da silva started to accomplish his “social program”: he built a working-class neighborhood, an health center, a school and other institutions. This strategy continued throughout the whole 1950’s decade.

In 1974 the industries were nationalized by the new comunist dictatorship. Now the north side of Barreiro is presented as a gigantic underused industrial park of several distinct and private companies.

15.1. Conexion’s Diagram

masterplan

The existing Masterplan is composed by Basic Principles that proposed: - Sustainability; - Ecology; - Enhance Tourism; - Reanimate Waterfront; - Economical Boost;

But...

15.2. Existing Masterplan

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The analyses of this Masterplan raises a few questions about economic, growth and scale issues.

There are problems about the unused space, new spaces conflicted with the scale of old spaces...

15.3. Existing Masterplan in Discussion

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15.4. Diagrams area I

15.5. Potencial’s Diagram area II

15.6. Diagram area II

15.7. Diagram area II - Potentials Circulations

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counter proposal and scenarios

The propose make adjustments on the basic principles and propose: sustainability; ecology; enhance tourism; reanimate waterfront; economical boost.

But with more human scale; keep history; think on the local needs; and create flexibility.

The propose create scenarios for Barreiro, thinking on the potentials of the site.

Two out of an infinite amount of scenarios for 2036 are chosen and investigated on to crucial areas.

Scenario I: Crisis Low income, more industrial areas, cheaper rets, social housing, social centres Scenario II: Economical Boost Touristic Development, Commercial development, high income, private housing, organized green spaces.

15.8. Diagram of Potentials

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A flexible masterplan wich leaves areas for unpredictable developments.

15.9. The Masterplan to Barreiro. It is the start for the scenarios.

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scenario I

Scenario I Propose: Low income, more industrial areas, cheaper rents, social housing, social centre’s 15.10. Scenario I

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15.11. Scenario I, with area one and two: the present and the scenario

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scenario II

Scenario II Propose: touristic development, commercial development, high income, private housing, organized green spaces...min 15.12. Scenario II

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15.13. Ecology: Marsh Pebbles like Bioremediation. These elements help clean the water

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proposal

15.14. Park to artists

Waterfront New Life

conclusion

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text Pedro Ressano Garcia PhD from Lusófona University of Lisbon

Waterfront New Life Seven ideas to challenge the Port City

At the end of a two year period it is appropriate to question how far the results achieved are from the initial objectives of the program. The aim to think about the problems on the waterfront around the estuary collect the energy of an extensive team, and it is important to question whether we did a good job. By the end of the first year the book Waterfront Urban Design published the results of the workshop and collected a wide range of contributions. At the end of the second year the book you have in hand took advantage of the first publication. There is significant improvement between these two editions, probably because the source of information improved. Firstly we rely mainly on our knowledge based on the research carried out by the PhD thesis

entitled «Life and Death of Lisbon Waterfront». Throughout the process, the program achieved visibility and the team received the contribution of a larger number of local experts who know about the subject and volunteered to help. When sharing their own expertise, inevitably such contributions had the effect of making the whole team think better.

In the initial objectives of the program the intention was to develop urban design solutions that included information regarding the following topics: Environment - Education - Maritime activities - Tourism - Transport - Urban life improvement.

Each topic has influenced the design solution presented by

the groups at the end of the workshop. For each case the priorities were decided among the participants of the group.

The wide range of disciplinary backgrounds intended to stimulate the debate on various fields of knowledge and prevent from getting caught in a narrow discussion of one discipline; instead we created groups integrating participants coming from architecture, planning, urban design geography and landscape architecture. Since the topic of waterfront urban design is interdisciplinary and involves a wide scope of interests and expertise, the working environment was creative to the point that it is hard to imagine a better team. The involvement with the topic and the passionate debate around it finally had the possibility to open the discussion to an

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international level. The guests were put together to deal with the task of a difficult subject and were required to bring their new fresh perception of the problem.

When publishing the second book addressing the great area of Lisbon it seems appropriate to think about what are the milestones that we achieved so far?

Until the present, the local situation was set upon a lack of dialogue between institutions. The no dialogue condition compromised the whole waterfront regeneration process.

Each institution suspected of the other and regeneration was dead-lock.

Throughout the two year period the institution agreed to participate and increasingly understood that our team was not a threat but instead an opportunity. Some of the local participants well received the results of our proposals. The neutrality of the academic international environment allowed the local representatives to lower the high level of animosity.

The production of visual representation of design solutions made it possible to open their perception regarding the scope of possibilities that can be implemented if based on dialogue.

It started with great curiosity regarding the present situation at Lisbon Metropolitan. As we learned about the specificity of the local waterfront regeneration process a growing sense of perplexity filled our spirits. The present situation was critically

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reviewed integrating information of local historical, geographical and regulatory constrains. The interdisciplinary approach gave the evidence that the waterfront subject benefits from their presence, because through constructive dialogue they succeed to embrace the complexity of the problem.

Most groups integrated the present doubts in their design, thus developed proposals considering an extended time frame period of 5, 10, 20 and in many cases a 30 year period.

Gradually the ideas were understood, while local representatives come to realize that urban planning and urban design is increasingly focused on regulations and the way they can survive administrative procedures. The lack of ideas settles down and buries any possibility to improve the present situation.

The four sites subject to research, analyses, critical review and development of design solutions were Almada, Barreiro, Poço do Bispo and Docapesca. The selection of these sites was brought into discussion by the people who were involved in the last twenty years or that are currently seeking solutions. The plans are mainly driven by the dominant land development culture. It seems hard to imagine other ideas can exist besides the continuity of banking investment and tax charges. Given the evidence provided by the subprime financial crisis, several participants were suspicious of the continuity of such a model.

Waterfront New Life

After the two year period what are the objectives for the future?

The method of producing brainstorms is effective and necessary to see beyond the implemented master plans. The information presented in the existing plans was critically reviewed and has enabled each team to deal with this task and develop ideas. The method must start from here, otherwise the presence of the best graduate students oriented by enlightened academics is not seized or fully exploited. The presence of local prominent professionals and municipal representatives at specific dates under personal invitation should raise the quality of the discussion. Some of finest experts and highly qualified professionals were able to come and join the group to share their knowledge and answer to particular questions. During the workshop period, each group gathered around the drafting table. The format of assembling international teams is necessary so that each participant carrying a particular waterfront city’ experience sit around the same table to share. It is fundamental that they succeed to put their differences to the side and learn from each other. This fragile equation relies on human values and not strictly technical values required when selecting each academic. It is a privilege and an honor to put together such a high standard of professionals. They are smart and successful, in creating the appropriate working environment where each participant soon understood that the diversity of cultures and their own waterfront city’s experience brought richness to the group.

Waterfront New Life

At the end of the workshop, the general perception among the group is that we all came out of it feeling smarter, and more up to date.

They found it very stimulating to come to Lisbon, and be together twice for a total of four weeks, During this time we were able to think, design, write and edit what we now publish in this book. It is a long and thoughtful process where we had extraordinary contribution not only present in this second book but also in the first book. The possibility to bring such large number of academics, professionals, municipal representatives and international experts was possible due

conclusion

to the Life Learning Program that sponsor our program with a significant sum of money to cover travel and living expenses of the group. However the book that is published here became possible due to the generosity of highly qualified people. They have given commitment and involvement that is priceless. The enthusiasm in producing design solutions consumed such number of hours of work that is beyond any reasonable budget.

To achieve a sustainable regeneration of the waterfront the existing legal instruments are not successful. Innovative and holistic ideas are needed to deal with

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Environment - Education - Maritime activities - Tourism Transport - Urban life improvement. The implemented format of master planning and urban design is incapable to bring forward the necessary solutions. The legal framework promotes a waste of energy in details while the large vision is lost. Since the topic involves the articulation of several procedures guided by a common vision, in this book you find work giving evidence that an alternative is possible. Not only possible but necessary if we aim for a better future. Future solutions depend on urban design made by authors who dare to produce dreams that will influence our visions for years to come. ■

“To achieve a sustainable regeneration of the waterfront theexisting legal instruments are not successful. Innovative and holistic ideas are needed to deal with Environmental - Education - Maritime activities - Tourism Transport - Urban life Improvement.”

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Final Boards

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Margueira - Bac scape

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Margueira Heritage Rebirth

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Docapesca - Waste [Land] Scape

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Bridging Docapesca

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Poço do Bispo - Crossing Borders

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Poço do Bispo - Beyond the Barriers

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Barreiro - Note the Nodes

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