Street and city
Pier
port beach river and lake hotel public space
A platform that reaches into the sea, river or lake for boarding, fishing, strolling or looking at the water.
Solves
What it solves
It takes people beyond the shore and, if it rests on piles, lets current and tide pass through. It provides public access to the water for transport, fishing and strolling.
Today
Rest it on piles that let water and sand through, with railings, benches, shade and low lighting. Choose materials that resist salt and a height that accounts for tide and waves.
Common mistake
Filling the shore with rock and concrete instead of using piles, so that the current is cut off and sediment builds up.
Tomorrow
With higher seas, piers should be designed to be repaired in parts and with a deck that can be raised. A pier open to fishers, bathers and neighbors gives the water’s edge back to the community and is better cared for because it is used every day.
Fact Southend Pier, in England, reaches 2.1 kilometers into the Thames estuary.
Where it comes from
- 1Port of Caesarea Caesarea, Israel, 22 to 10 BC
Herod builds the largest artificial harbor in open sea of his time, with volcanic ash concrete cast underwater. - 2British pleasure piers Ryde, England, 1814
Built as a ferry landing, it opened the era of piers for walking over the sea. - 3Puntarenas pier Puntarenas, Costa Rica, since 1872
An iron pier was built, followed by a larger one in 1929 and the current concrete one in 1998, which receives cruise ships.
Masters
- Renzo Piano Old Port of Genoa, Genoa, Italy, 1992
He transforms the piers of the old port into a promenade of more than 230,000 square meters with recovered industrial buildings. He shows how a working waterfront can belong to the city again.
See also
Also in Street and city
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.