Exploded axonometric of the winery, houses and hotel over the planted landscape of Aleixo.
07  /  Urban design

From Urbanity to Nature

A wine culture community on the last unbuilt stretch of Porto’s Douro riverfront: vineyards, orchards, a winery, homes and a hotel woven into the park, so the journey to port wine ends inside the city.

Type
Urban design / Wine culture community
Location
Aleixo, Porto, Portugal
Tools
Mapping, diagrams, collage

Porto has been transformed over the last decade, and the Douro riverfront has drawn the most building. Aleixo, a social housing complex under demolition, is the last front of the river without construction: a green valley with a natural cliff dropping to the river and the sea. Should we build there, and how can nature and architecture be balanced?

Visitors come to Porto for its wine, yet the vineyards and wineries are far from the centre. The project keeps the green texture of the land but turns it into urban agriculture, and adds a winery, homes, a trade centre and a hotel, so that wine tourists and locals meet in one community: production and consumption, nature and architecture, making and enjoying.

4programmes: agriculture, wine culture, community, commerce
5buildings in plan, section and perspective
5senses along the journey

Design process

  1. Porto and its wineThe vineyards are far from the city
  2. AleixoThe last unbuilt riverfront
  3. Keep it greenThe park becomes urban agriculture
  4. A wine culture communityWinery, homes, trade, hotel
  5. A journey through the sensesSmell, touch, sight, taste, hearing

A journey through the site

Supermarket and tower: the tower rises behind rows of vines.
Housing block: homes set among cultivated plots.
Winery, first floor: a planted roof looking out to the river.
Winery, ground floor: the winery among the vineyards.
Hotel: the pool.
Trade centre: where visitors and locals do business.

City to site

Porto is one of the most popular cities in Europe and famous for its wine, but the vineyards and wineries visitors want to see are far from the centre.

Three things make Aleixo the site: a green park with abandoned buildings and a natural cliff over the river and the sea; the last unbuilt front on the Douro; and the tourist tram that passes through it. The Douro, the river of wine, is drawn in red.

Destination: where to stay in Porto, and where to enjoy port wine.
City analysis of Porto, with the Douro in red.
Site position: Aleixo on the Douro, with the tramline.
1 more in the viewer

Strategy

The site was a green area with two walls. The structure preserves the landscape and opens to the city from every corner. Organic and strong paths merge into one journey that ends at the pier or at the green amphitheatre of the park.

Visitors can walk over the buildings, through the landscape, or from one to the other, as the ground gradually sinks; the path offers the landscape to every sense.

Strategy: entrances, axis and links, experiences, zoning, water system and journey.
From idea to measure: exploded axonometric of the supermarket, housing, winery, houses, hotel, trade centre and pier.
Masterplan on the aerial photograph, with the pier on the Douro.

Plans and sections

04.1Supermarket and tower, housing block and winery first floor

Plans and sections.

04.2Winery ground floor, hotel and trade centre

Plans and sections.

Five senses

The journey is designed around five senses. Smell: the aromas of grapes, fruit and vegetables through the year. Touch: the ups and downs of the landscape and the textured walls on the way to the winery. Sight: from the top of the winery, a panoramic view of the Douro and the pier.

Taste: wine and local cuisine with the best views. Hearing: wind through the trees, and water running from the highest point along the winery down to the pond in the park.

Topography: sections through the site and buildings.
5D experiences: smell, touch, sight, taste and hearing.

Presentation boards

Destination
City analysis
From urbanity to nature
Strategy and from idea to measure
All journeys have secret destinations
Topography and 5D experiences