The Atlantic facade is structured by invisible borders implied by areas of cultural variations from a common language : the galeico-portuguese. Their relevance can be understood when related to physical borders. The finding has been discovering that the granite architectural language follows the oral language. The Celta train line pass through them homogenizing the territory bringing together North of Spain and South of Portugal. It has divided the sea front and the hinterland, emphasizing the exodus to the coastline connected to globalization and location of a new industrial tradition.

The project, both harbor and train station, is situated in the only location where these three fundamental characteristics meets : the see, the coastal train line and the hinterland train lines.

The building is what the territory is : a facade. Free, autonomous, out of scale, radical, it arrays as an axial point at a territory scale. It’s an exemplar condensed answer to the questions the territory has to face. A granite facade is on the esplanade duplicating the existent batter wall of the train line, echoing the territory and its constructive culture. It’s the adjunction of repetitive granite pieces prestressed brought together by train or vessel and unloaded thanks to the preexisting loading dock. The harbor cranes are essential part of Architecture, without age nor assigned functions. They help to the construction and deconstruction of the building as well as to occupy the free esplanade.

The wall contains and shows at the same time the industrial activities it hosts. It is the backdrop of new territorial actors, the machines, acting as a frame. Support to any activity, the wall stands as the guarantor of the free appropriation of the esplanade.

The constructive detail of the project summarizes the attitude that had allowed to create it. Between granite and steel, it’s a metaphor of the history of this territory and one answer to the questions it arouses.