This project is located in the Historic City Center of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, in the south of Brazil. On a site with around 180 thousand square meters, the Mauá Wharf (Cais Mauá) follows approximately 3.3 kilometers linearly alongside Lake Guaíba. It is a deactivated port area that used to have a direct connection with the city. But nowadays it is obstructed by a retaining wall – created to stop possible floods from the Guaíba – between the deactivated operating areas of the port and the city.
The wall, three meters tall, protects only a part of the capital from the water advance, leaving the entire port area with its rich collection of buildings and warehouses (that are protected municipal and federal historical heritage buildings) exposed to flooding. Thus, to protect the Pier and reintegrate it into the Historic Center of Porto Alegre, the proposal envisages replacing the Mauá Wall with a system of removable protections, arranged along the perimeter strip that borders the Guaíba.
Current site condition
Project proposal
The idea of this intervention is to return the Wharf to the city, rescuing its urban presence and the built memory of the historic buildings and warehouses. To strengthen this concept, new activities were suggested in three sectors:
DOCKS SECTOR
This sector, where the three deactivated port docks are located, will be enhanced by new buildings. To create a new, varied, and rich urban space of great vitality, which can be used at all hours and days of the week, new uses were proposed. Those are housing, commerce, services, hotel, and other activities related to events, culture, and leisure.
WAREHOUSES SECTOR
Devoted to the port’s memory, this sector is full of protected historical buildings. The project proposes that their external volume would be fully preserved with restored doors, windows, canopies, and gates. Internally their metallic structures (pillars, beams, and trusses) would be preserved, as well as the conductor rails of the old overhead cranes. They will receive new uses such as gastronomic and cultural centers, event halls, and creative economy centers.
Current site condition
Current site condition
Current site condition
Project proposal
GASOMETER SECTOR
Devoted to leisure, delight, and contemplation, this portion of the intervention surrounds a deactivated power plant, which was turned into a cultural center. Due to that, the new uses respect its presence with a controlled occupation and low verticality. There were created: a square with a dock for small boats; a deck; and a building with a nautical school, restaurants, and shops.
Through an urban and architectural treatment, that provides new uses for existing and protected buildings, as well as creates new constructions with diversified uses (culture, education, services, commerce, housing, leisure, and entertainment), it is possible to imagine a new enjoyable and sociable interactive urban space.
This new urban condition also offers free areas for public use: a large sidewalk alongside the wharf; a continuous boulevard following the Mauá Avenue; and diverse spaces and public routes with squares and gardens. This public ground has 1.149.000 m² and represents 82% of the whole Mauá Wharf intervention.
Team:
Architect: Dal Pian Arquitetos
Authors: Renato Dal Pian, Lilian Dal Pian
Architectural coordination: Carolina Freire
Collaborators: Alexandre Kok, André Laranjeira, Carolina Mina Fukumoto, Guilherme Braga, Luis Taboada, Maressa Freitas, Sophia Valerio
Photo credits: Jonas Bernardi (3D Renders)
Material Used:
Buildings:
1. Facades: sun control louvers; sun control panels made of aluminum sheets.
2. Structure: reinforced concrete and metallic structure.
3. Windows: aluminum window frames; laminated glass.
Public area:
1. Floors: basalt boards; concrete floors; porous concrete drainage pavers; ceramic tiles; vinyl boards.
2. Concrete and basalt benches and flower boxes.
3. Metallic bicycle parking stands.
4. Metallic railings and guardrails.
