João Luís Carrilho da Graça

Lisbon cruise terminal . Lisbon

source: João Luís Carrilho da Graça . portodelisboa

The first prize in International Competition for the Cruise Terminal in Lisbon,
launched by the Lisbon’s Port Administration (APL), was attributed to the architect
João Luís Carrilho da Graça. The jury also distinguished the proposals by other
architects such as Aires Mateus and Gonçalo Byrne, William Vazquez Consuegra,
ARX Portugal and Zaha Hadid. The solution presented by Carrilho da Graça won an
unanimous critique by the jury, as “a clear benefit” to the city of Lisbon and its port.

The creation of the new Cruise Terminal in Lisbon offers a rare opportunity to question
and rethink the urban and experiential relationships between the city of Lisbon and
the Tagus river. The proposal presents a building designed as a simple volume, that
responds to the desire of liberating the surrounding area. This space will be offered
to the general public, providing green spaces to the city and to the adjacent
neighborhoods, which can support different sort of activities, evoking the ancient
boulevards proposed in the 18th,19th and 20th centuries. The small scale of the
building is an approach to the urban scale, while the free space ensures the required
distance for contemplation of the Alfama’s slope.
The visual relation river /city takes as much as importance as the city / river.
The building and the park are in the transition, coexisting and being mutually enhanced.
Thus, the building appears as a response to the program, while the park meets the city.
One of the key points of this proposal is the maintenance of the existing dock`s
structure, reaffirming its memory by keeping the void space and recovering the
surrounding stone walls.
The transport accommodation intends to be simple and flexible and is set among the
trees alignments. To achieve this, extensive paved tracks are integrated into the park,
refusing the road design in space definition. Separating the park from the harbor, the
building of the terminal also defines the entrance plaza, at Southwest, and the car
parking at Northeast, which occupies the dock`s space. At the intersection of this
plaza with the pre-existing dock, a water plan is created evoking its previous use.
The building has a simple and compact design solution, concerned by streamlining
facilities and systems used, combined with a flexible space use. The building is as-
sumed towards the park and the city as a pavilion, an overflow system. It appears to be
a floating volume, as it is broken, generating tension zones and inflections that suggest
entry and exit points for the building.
A path/promenade surrounds the building, allowing a slow discovery of the surround-
ings while passing through the different facades. This path culminates in the roof
that assumes the features of a stage, relating with the river and the city without any
obstacles, such as a plaza.

Author: João Luís Carrilho da Graça 

Collaboration: Francisco Freire, Paulo Costa, Yutaka Shiki, Gonçalo Baptista, João Jesus, Mariana Salvador, Nuno Castro Caldas and Nuno Pinto

Design Graphic: P-06, NunoGusmão 

Landscape Architecture: Global, João Gomes da Silva 

Engineering: Fase - Estudos&Projectos; NaturalWorks - Guilherme Carrilho da Graça; Consulmar; Nemus 

Client: APL

Cost: 25,500,000€

Site: Santa Apolónia, Lisbon 

Date: 2010 -