142
For the first stage, the Macau Administration selected a team led by a Hong Kong-based planning practice, P&T Group, who teamed with Siza Vieira and Fernando Tavora of Portugal, to design the reclamation of the Porto Exterior, the outer harbour. This team submitted plans in 1984 consisting of a rectilinear urban grid of 144 m by 72 m, which can be seen, in the southeast portion of Figure 6. The plan consists of large blocks, four wide to the west and two wide to the east, six blocks deep on the north-south axis. A central reserve parts the east and west sections and is continued on to the shore to provide a visual connection. A park lies to the east, disconnected and inaccessible from the rest of Macau except through the new development. All this is placed on a podium created by separating the reclamation from the existing edge with a canal for surface water drainage. Thus, the result is distinct and different urban fabric from which has preceded it.
The second stage was the reclamation of the outer harbour beside the Praia Grande. This was conceived initially as simply a reclamation of the bay resulting in a straightened waterfront and a semi-circular flat plate of land on which to develop. After a competition, the winning scheme (by Manuel Vicente) was revealed to propose not to reclaim straight across the bay but to create instead two large pools of water and an island. The area is defined by a causeway in an arc that inverts the broad Praia Grande of the past and a second causeway linking around the Barra at the southern tip. Twelve blocks are positioned on the north-east edge of the ponds to create a clear urban edge to the water. The Praia itself is to be widened by reclaiming some space along the water's edge, restoring the grandeur of the avenue that has been eroded by traffic, parking and development. In 1991, the "Reorganisation of the Praia Grande" was gazetted with the following aims (Prescott 1993):
Figure 6: 1996
1. to reinforce the diverse economic base of Macau
2. to create an image of the city to attract investment and an environment attractive to scientific personnel, technicians and managers all of whom form an indispensable necessity for the coherent