Risco’s design seeks to turn the presence of a number of imposing infrastructures – particularly the viaduct carrying the Inner Ring Road (VCI), the railway, and the viaduct which we ourselves designed as part of the Antas public areas project – into an opportunity.
The Dragon Station is situated between the new street around the stadium and the VCI. It closes the proposed new artificial topography, in the shape of an exposed concrete plinth that seals the system of walls and platforms at the eastern edge of the Antas Detailed Development Plan intervention area.
The entrances to the Station are in the two tops of the building. Located on the lowest street level, the southern atrium is actually contained within the plinth. It is characterised by a system of skylights and by the ramps which give access to the mid-level platform.
Above the plinth there is a lighter, more transparent structure containing the northern atrium, which opens onto the surrounding landscape. At the top of this atrium there is a large open space that crosses the whole of the station structure and lights it right down to the platform level (the platform elevation is where the original ground level used to pass).
If we look at it longitudinally, the Station reveals the major topographic transformation which the Antas area has undergone as a result of the new plan.
Antas Subway Station
Location
Antas, Porto
Client
APOR – Agência para a Modernização do Porto
Date
2002 – 2004
Architects
Manuel Salgado and Carlos Cruz
Build Area
7.573 m2
Cost
2.450.000 €
Built
