Pedestrian way to Historic Centre
CReDITS
Site: Vigo
Client: Concello Casco Vello
Year of Project: 2008
Slope: 56m
location
DESCRIPtion
Vigo has a unique old quarter due not to the quality of the building but instead owing to the fact that it begins at sea level and rises to an old defence settlement (el Castro) with the interim level area of Fuerte de San Sebastián occupied by the large city hall building. The Town Council issued an invitation to tender for work to solve this access problem and suggested a scheme with three lift shafts and gangways to overcome the changes in level between one lift and the next to reach the hill. We were invited to bid on account of our lift in the old quarter of Lleida. In order to avoid harming susceptibilities we suggested that it would be more appropriate to build a sloping lift to cover the entire length in one fell swoop respecting the interim stops that coincided with the horizontal road fence. Funicular technology has improved greatly in Switzerland, Austria and Italy for obvios reasons and the size of the infrastructure is lighter and can be better integrated than the former contraptions. Once a minimal footprint on the setting had been assured, with buried sections and a minimum width, the project decision entailed being coherent with this notion of a nearly virtual street.
