Gaia Masterplan

Location
Gaia, Portugal

Area
91,800m²

Start
2018

Completion
2024

Client
JMSA

Urban Planning

Residential

Office

Retail

Infrastructure

The master–plan incorporates a mixed–use program, pursuing to brisk an expansion area of the city, empowering it with more inhabitants, working class, infra–structures, services and qualified public spaces. The site is conditioned by the given road map and the presence of a big retail complex on the southeast corner. In parallel, it was intended that a hotel would grow on a central area. Taking this into account, 5 blocks were planned on the northern parcel, attached to an important road axis, in order to promote a direct dialog with the city. These buildings contemplate a flexible floor–plan and infra–structure, which allows them to be used for residential or office purposes. It is vital to assure, that every building should be permeable and open to a public space, allowing flows in–between them. The middle plaza is the master–plan’s heart and will stitch all the different parts together, in a vibrant, public and social approach. The public space lives from the existing water stream that is regenerated and brought to the foreground in the landscape design. The sinuous lines are set to comply with the reduce mobility standards and to shorten the topographic amplification, as they allow the users to serpentine and get different perceptions and visual contact with the surrounding components. The urban plaza is open to the public and 2 buildings (on the west side) are already under–construction.