Lifts to heaven

They are an essential element of mobility in the public spaces of many cities and are ubiquitous. What are we talking about? Lifts, of course, although one lift is not the other. As in several urban projects in Spain, for example. Here, architects demonstrate how they not only solve the problem of access to a higher level, but at the same time create new meaning through their design.

In the projects we present, the lifts are part of new urban planning projects with connecting spaces between areas that would otherwise be isolated by ‘insurmountable blemishes’. Open-air lifts generate new flows of circulation in public spaces and, with their unusual design, they give new meaning to places. They can breathe new life into historic centres, perform the function of viewing points and, in some cases, strive to be iconic pieces that attract all attention. With their vertical projection and tower-like stature, they become landmarks in their own right, heralding new connections for residents and visitors to the place.

A first project is that in the old neighbourhood of Zumbaia (municipality in the Spanish province of Gipuzkoa, in Spanish Basque Country), which creates a number of public spaces with presence. It is located in the San José district, next to the historic centre, where narrow streets and steep slopes predominate. Initially, the lift is embedded in the core of an existing tower of a residential building, connecting it to five different levels. The project is realised by architecture firm Vaumm, which emphasises the use of new traffic flows to reshape the public space around it. From the lift, two walkways have been designed. The upper one, 28 metres long, became a bridge to access the area around the San Juan residence for the elderly. Around a second, shorter and lower footbridge, a square was designed to act as a small lung for the neighbourhood. The designers emphasised care for the geometric insertion to minimise the impact of the project. The lift stands out as another urban element and as a contemporary solution for a popular neighbourhood that has poor accessibility in many places.

A set of three lifts in Barcelona's Can Peguera bridges the succession of slopes in this neighbourhood that was built in 1929. At the time, this coincided with the World's Fair and is now a unique testimony to a typology that was known as ‘cheap houses’ for workers. The lifts were designed by architects Anna & Eugeni Bach and are part of the ‘Strip of amenities’ project. The links in the upper part of the district thus connect to the Turó de la Peira park, an almost 8-hectare urban forest with a leafy plantation of pines. The three lifts are united by the materials and physiognomy of the box. They are built with exposed brick and large windows, topped by a green-painted metal visor and a crescent moon. The design lends it a certain homeliness that closely matches the character of the 600 houses in the neighbourhood. These houses are mostly single-storey and characterised by small front gardens and sloping roofs with Arabic tiles. At the same time, however, it gives the lifts their own character and highlights them as vertical connecting points. Around them, ramps and stairs form a new promenade, with which the architects aim to embed the neighbourhood longitudinally in the area with public facilities.

In some cases, lift development is intended to improve access to historic sites. This is the case of the City Wall of Lugo (town in the autonomous region of Galicia) by Antonio Pernas Varela Arquitectos. The aim is to access the adarve (the path behind the battlements) of the Roman wall, improving accessibility to the monument. To limit the presence of the wall, the lowest part of the wall was chosen, where there are also large trees. The cladding made of iroko wood connects the box to its surroundings. With the passage of time, due to the wood's exposure to the elements, the authors anticipate a greying that will match the hue of the wall's stones. The latticework is built with horizontal slats. This reduces weight, reveals glimpses of the exterior and softens the verticality of the structure.

The lift in Gironella (municipality in the Spanish province of Barcelona, in the region of Catalonia), by Carles Enrich Studio, is a remarkable project because it appears almost like an extravagant tower, evoking both the industrial and medieval past of the area. This lift solves the 20-metre height difference between the promenade along the river Llobregat and the historical centre of the municipality, on top of a rocky point. The lift creates a new access and is also intended as a way to revitalise circulation and walking through an increasingly depopulated old town. According to the designer, the lift is integrated into the historical memory of the site as another layer of the landscape. Moreover, the site is located at a strategic point on the Cal Metre road, where there used to be access to the textile colonies, which had a major influence on the area. The lower part of the lift box is made of glass to maintain a visual relationship with the river. The rest of the lift is built with bricks forming a grid.

In all previous cases, the vertical axis articulates the lift project. Sometimes this is accompanied by a horizontal line that acts as a bridge, but this is not the case with the lift in Vigo, a city of modest size in the autonomous region of Galicia. On the contrary, it follows a circle and gains great prominence and visibility. The name Halo is well chosen, as the lift also acts as a powerful light source at night. The construction, carried out by AM2 in collaboration with Arenas y Asociados and Noarq, consists of a 45-metre-high tower with two lifts and a large 90-metre-diameter ring as a viewing platform overlooking the estuary. It facilitates access to the new intermodal train and bus station and to a shopping centre, bridging a large gap for pedestrians.