Commitment 09Read more
Health and Quality of Life
Creating Good Living Conditions: A Priority for Port Cities
Allowing independent, transparent measurement of air quality, water quality, sound levels, and light pollution in the City Port territory.
How can the port’s environmental impacts be reduced through architectural design?
Port and industrial activities are one of the main sources of air pollution in port cities. For this reason, it is important to reconcile port functions and environmental concerns to improve air quality. Architects can use innovative designs to reduce this pollution and transform environmental restrictions into sources of inspiration. Another effective solution involves combining the use of groundbreaking technologies and cooperation with stakeholders. In Spain, the A Coruña Port built a structure that solved the coal dust problem and became a city landmark.
The coal terminal at the port of A Coruña was designed and built by Cymi SA for the company Union Fenosa. It was inaugurated in July 2007 and had a capacity of 100,000 m3. The terminal had a dome measuring 105 m beneath which coal was stored after being carried from ships on covered conveyors. The system used to transfer and store the materials was designed to prevent dust from being carried into the air. Combining the twin concerns of efficiency and ecology, the structure had been adopted by the local population, who refer to it by the evocative name “La Medusa”. It constitutes both a unique piece of architecture, clearly identifiable within the port, and a functional infrastructure that preserves air quality and mitigates the risks inherent to this type of traffic for the nearby city. It represented a qualitative long-term solution for bulk terminals. However, in 2023, one year after the end of the concession for the unloading of coal at the Centenario Dock, the "Medusa" structure was dismantled. After years in place, the design became part of the urban scenario, and there was a plea by the population to rebuild somewhere else. However, due to technical safety issues, this was not done.
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