GAIA telepher line – MACHINES IN THE LANDSCAPE   
The design was a response to a competition for the conception/construction and operation of the telepher line. This solution was proposed for the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, taking a playful and functional approach that took into account the dynamisation of the place and the local tourist industry, connecting the Port wine cellars and the riverfront (with its emphasis on gastronomy) to the light rail network and the Serra do Pilar on the higher level.

Lower Station – Tension System
The positioning of the Lower Station building on the banks of the River Douro favours the public use of  the space, improving accessibility. The design of the elevated element that constitutes the cable car boarding platform also contributed to this. The use of two retractable, suspended stairways make the building impenetrable when closed, rendering fencing or shutters unnecessary while guaranteeing security.
The architectural form emerges as a continuation of the axiality of this type of facility, where the immaterial axis – that of the movement along the cable – coincides with the physical and structural axis of the building that incorporates the cable car station. The structural axis supporting the buildings is also an infrastructural axis, housing diverse support facilities for the cable car (ticket office, information desk, toilets, shops), with the elevated departure platform above these. It really is one single piece in two acts. The rhythmic form given by the ribbed materials gives the object a mutating appearance, with gentle optical effects of transparency and opacity depending on the perspective from which it is viewed and the changing light over the day. This introduces a rhythm, a cadence, a beat; the much that is visible, the much that is hidden.

Upper Station – Drive Motors
The upper station, initially to be located in the Jardim do Morro garden with the same assumptions as for the Lower Station, was later moved to the slope in front of the river, making it necessary to reformulate established ideas. The new construction, now larger in surface area, has resulted in greater visibility for the building, while maintaining the challenge of housing the new infrastructure with minimum impact on the landscape, in accordance with a constant games of scales and responding at the the same time to the complex technical and structural requirements necessary for construction of a drive motor station.
The Upper Station blends into the existing wall/buttress and is designed to have a neutral and abstract, almost timeless, character. The design seeks to reconcile the orthogonality of the surrounding houses with the obliqueness of the cable car axis, contrasting the monumental character of the construction on the hang above the river with the domestic scale of the adjacent housing. Access to the upper level is via ramps and steps that lead to the roof/belvedere, which consolidates and finishes off the existing buttress wall. Like a chemin de ronde, it makes the most of the site, affording views over the city of Porto.|



PROJECT NAME:
Teleférico de Gaia Gaia Telpher Line

LOCATION:
Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal

PROJECT PHASES:
Design date: 2007
Completion date: 2011

DESIGN TEAM:
Architecture:
Francisco Vieira de Campos Cristina Guedes

Design Co-ordinator:
Francisco Vieira de Campos

Colaborators:
Francisco Lencastre, Adalgisa Lopes, Cristina Maximino, Joana Miguel, Inês Ferreira, Pedro Costa, Mariana Sendas, António Ferreira, Ana Matias, Ana Fernandes, Luís Campos, João Pontes, Ricardo Cardoso, Oscar Ribas, Diogo Lage

TECHNICAL DESIGN AND BUILDING CONSULTANCY:
Structural Engineering and Hydraulic engineering:
Struconcept

Electrical Engineering, Security and Telecomunications:
RGA

Acoustics:
Proensal Constructor Etermar S.A.

Telpher Line Equipment:
Doppelmayer

Graphic Design:
Francisco Providencia, Designer Lda

DEVELOPER:
Câmara Municipal de Vila Nova de Gaia City Council

Client:
Transportes por Cabo e Concessões, S.A.

GENERAL CONTRACTOR:
Etermar S.A.

PHOTOGRAPHS:
Alberto Plácido