Horta Harbour Conversion | RISCO

The purchase of a new inter-island ferry, the congestion in the port, and the lack of adequate conditions for the fishing fleet all meant that it was necessary to rethink the whole way in which the Port of Horta is organised.
The proposed solution is to create a new harbour basin for passenger traffic on the northern side of the city, with a new maritime terminal to serve it. This intervention frees up the southern basin for fishing boats and recreational craft, and also makes it possible to create new public areas linked to the port.
Close collaboration with the engineering team made it possible to create the new protection pier directly south of the Conceição riverbank, at the northern end of the waterfront.
The geometry of the works was also controlled, which will be regarded as a clear gesture – a mark in the landscape that is intentionally shaped in line with the coastline and the city scale – and its connection to the waterfront, on an embankment, which will exhibit one more “phase” in the design of the coastline.
The new station, more than just a building, aims to be a line on the horizon, a long volume or canopy, at a level below the waterfront’s sidewalk, offering spaces for passenger services and functional tracts to connect the urban area and port area. We sought a scale and language to match the landscape and infrastructure, as opposed to a traditional building. The connection of the new port unit to the waterfront enabled us to redesign the court’s roundabout, the “terminus” of the waterfront, thereby broadening it and creating a large planted area that extends towards the new port’s embankment.