Snapshot: 'Halo' Elevates and Connects Pedestrians in a Hilly Port City

Vigo, Spain

Halo. Photo © Attilio Fiumarella

Architects & Firms

A combination of infrastructure, site-specific sculpture, and urban landmark, Halo recently opened in Vigo, Spain. The public “lift” and suspended walkway help pedestrians navigate the hilly terrain in this port city just north of the Portuguese border. Comprising a 141-foot-tall shaft that houses two elevator cabins and a truss-supported ring-shaped walkway 295 feet in diameter, Halo crosses over a busy highway and connects a lower section of Vigo with a part of town at a higher elevation, and to a new Morphosis-designed multimodal station. One piece of a larger urban mobility plan, Halo has shortened a 30-minute trip on foot to about three minutes, says architect José Carlos Nunes de Oliveira, whose Porto-based firm, NOARQ, designed the project with local firm AM2 Arquitectos and structural engineer Arenas & Asociados.

Photo © Attilio Fiumarella

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Joann Gonchar, FAIA, LEED AP, is deputy editor at Architectural Record. She joined RECORD in 2006, after working for eight years at its sister publication, Engineering News-Record. Before starting her career as a journalist, Joann worked for several architecture firms and spent three years in Kobe, Japan, with the firm Team Zoo, Atelier Iruka. She earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. She is licensed to practice architecture in New York State.