Between Streets - 2nd Prize | [i]da arquitectos

Urban Area between Boavista and Baixa

The blocks of the Oporto city are the result of the successive traces and its interlacements that limit and define them. They are closed but not independent systems, they depend on the streets that originated them.

The urban area between Boavista and Baixa, the two centralities of Oporto, stands out for its superblocks, configured by streets that sometimes reach half a kilometer, which reveals a scarce density of intersections. This urban condition, along with the impenetrability of the blocks, leads to poor accessibility to the urban activities and to the several parts of the city by its population, thus compromising the diversity and the urban dynamism in this area of the city.

However, these superblocks still preserve in its midst wide areas in the middle of the city center which contain many of the buildings of public interest, collective facilities, parks and extraordinary gardens. We would almost risk to say that a big part of the Oporto city lies within these blocks, hidden behind its frontages.

It’s these areas, presently introverted, not perceived from the streets that gave origin to them, that are the greatest assets of the Oporto city and that can configure as potential elements of urban regeneration.

New Urban Layer Between Streets

The group of these territories may create a new urban system articulated of open spaces, a new urban layer between streets, capable of maximizing the accessibility to the different parts of the city and its urban activities. This new urban system, complementary to the system of streets, assembles important spaces and collective facilities that exist within the superblocks and articulates both of Oporto centralities.

The Aurifícia Block

The Aurifícia Block, with its aprox. 9.2 hectares (aprox. 22 acres), presents itself as an ample space in the center of the city, impenetrable, where the deactivated industry and the collectively unused gardens stand out.

The project foresees three distinctive urban elements: a Street, a Square and an Agricultural Park.

1. Street

The new street follows the direction of the “Companhia Aurifícia” building and connects Álvares Cabral Street to the Bragas Street. This new connection with conditioned traffic, meant for cycling and walking, will increase the route alternatives between the two streets.

2. Agricultural Park

The east-west connection will be accomplished through an urban agricultural park and by the current access near the Hermann Burmester Garden. This Park, along with the garden, connects the República Square to the Cedofeita Street.

3. Square

The proposed square represents the converging area between these two connections. A space of 40 X 40 meters opens out to the main entrance of the new use of the Companhia Aurifícia building, a Cultural Center.

The street and the square are defined by an ample continuous portico from which we can get to the shops, to the ateliers/workshops, to the ramps that give access to the agricultural park, to the lifts, to the foyer and to the auditoriums.