Barcelona Architectural Tour

ABAKO ABAKO

I BARCELONA 30/9-3/10 2011

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(13:20) Land in BCN Bus drives us from airport to Hotel (ca14:30) Check in at Hotel (15:30) Plaça San Jaume Plaça de San Felip Neri El Catedral/ Muro Romano/ COAC (16:00) Mercat de Santa Catarina, inside and around.

(16:40 - 17:40) Visit office of Espinàs i Terrasó www.espinasitarraso.com 9. (ca17:45 - 18:30) (Coffee break) Palau de La Musica 10. (walk by) Plaça Catalunya / Sculpture by Subirachs / Fuente de Canaletes / Las Ramblas* 11. (19:00) MACBA / CCCB 12. Own time /or/ follow alternative route** 13. (20:45) Meet at lobby of hotel 14. (21:00) Dinner Les Cuatre Gats

* If we are running behind schedule we skip this and go down Carrer de Santa Ana **Alternative route (guided): 1. (19:20) Leave MACBA / CCCB 1. Apartment building (Josep Llinás) 2. Rambla de Raval (Cat sculpture) 3. Barceló Raval Hotel 4. Bar Marsella

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PLAZA SAN JAUME Back in the Roman period this square was (and still is) where important government buildings were found.

On one side there is the Palace of the Generalitat (the government of the Autonomous Community of Catalunya) and on the other stands the City Hall. This square has been witness to some of the most important events in recent Catalan history, such as the proclamation of the Catalan State in 1931 or the return of Josep Tarradelles from exile in 1977. On Sunday mornings, people come to dance the Sardana, the national dance of Catalonia.

PLAZA DE SAN FELIP NERI Plaza Sant Felip Neri is a small, round square in the heart of Barcelona’s ”Barrio Gotico” (Gothic Quarter). On the plaza itself you can find a historic place: La Iglesia de Sant Felip Neri - a gothic church which has been bombed during the spanish civil war.

EL CATEDRAL Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain. The cathedral was constructed throughout the 13th to 15th centuries, with the principal work done in the 14th century. The cloister, which encloses the Well of the Geese (Font de les Oques) was completed about 1450. The neoGothic façade was constructed over the nondescript exterior that was common to Catalan churches in the 19th century. The roof is notable for its gargoyles, featuring a wide range of animals, both domestic and mythical.

MURO ROMANO Plaça Nova. Two sections of Roman wall and two square towers from the second Roman city wall city from the fourth century AD. In the fifteenth century the ”Casa de l’Ardiaca” the Archdeacon’s house was built on top of these walls. This is the location of the Roman gate called Porta Praetoria, which lead into the street Decumanus Maximus

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COL-LEGI D´ARQUITECTES DE CATALUNYA, COAC Xavier Busquets 1958-1962 Relief by Picasso

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NEW MARKET OF SANTA CATERINA Remodeling and rehabilitation of the old market Enric Miralles, Benedetta Tagliabue 1998-2003

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PALAU DE LA MÚSICA CATALANA - Coffee Lluís Domènech i Monataner 1905-1908 Addition by Óscar Tusquets 2000

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PLAZA CATALUNYA

Puig i Cadafalch 1925 -1927 Sculpture by Josep Maria Subirachs

MUSEU D´ART CONTEMPORANI DE BARCELONA, MACBA Richard Meier 1988-1995

The Plaça de Catalunya, a large plaza surrounded by monumental buildings, is Barcelona’s busiest square. It is located between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and the 19th century Eixample district.

Barcelona’s two most famous streets, the Rambla (a wide promenade in the old city) and the Passeig de Gracia (a grand showcase of modernist architecture in Eixample) start at the Plaça de Catalunya.

Even though the square is enormous in size, it is constantly crowded with people walking to and from one of the nine streets emanating from the square.

Plaça de Catalunya is not integrated with any of the surrounding neighborhoods, but for a square this size it is surprisingly pleasant.

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ALTERNATIVE ROUTE (GUIDED) CENTRE DE CULTURA CONTEMPORÀNIA DE BARCELONA, CCCB

APARTMENT BUILDING Josep Llinàs 1989-1994

Remodelling and extension of the old Casa de la Caritat Almshouse Albert Viaplana, Helio Piñón 1990-1993 Teatro CCCB av José Antonio Martínez Lapeña & Elías Torres

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RAMBLA DE RAVAL The promenade that comprises la Rambla del Raval (located right in the center of el Raval) with constructed in the ‘90s after the local government decided to upheave the uncontrolled area and make it accessible to tourists.

Now a hub of activity, this locale is a favorite of students, local Pakistanis and tourists who congregate in one of the surrounding bars, terraces and eating joints

”ELS QUATRE GATS” Josep Puig i Cadafalch 1895-1896

BARCELÓ DE RAVAL HOTEL ”The major decorative feature of the rooms at the Raval has to be the city itself. Enormous windows provide panoramic views, and bathe the rooms in natural light, while the black and white décor creates a relaxed and tranquil environment.”

BAR MARSELLA STOP FOR DRINK IF TIME PERMITS Dali, Picasso, Gaud, Heminway... and many others famous artists used to come to the Bar Marsella to have a drink. Order an absinthe, a very strong french beverage, today forbidden in France, guess why! Open since 1820, probably the very first bar in Barcelona

PALAU GÜELL Antoni Gaudí 1885-1889

Gaudí created an unusual vertical order in which the four above-grade storreys are expressed in the facade by six different orders, also divided horizontally. It manifests Gaudí’s respect for the typology of the medieval townhouse, though also infused with a sacralized sense of space.

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1. (8:00) Bus leaves from the hotel 2. (8:20) Arrive at Sagrada Familia (25 people stay) 3. (8:45) Bus leaves Sagrada Familia for La Pedrera (6 people)* 4. Bus returns to Sagrada Familia and waits for the 25 people who stayed. Bus leaves Sagrada Familia 10:20 arrives at La Pedrera 10:35 and visits the bottom floor exhibition space.* 5. Coffee at Hotel Mandarin (S. F. group may be later) 6. (12:30) Bus leaves from Hotel Mandarin (Arago y P. de Gracia) 7. (12:45) Bus arrives at Biblioteca de Jaume Fuster (go inside) 8. Plaça Lesseps/ Casa Ramos 9. (13:45) Bus leaves Plaça Lesseps 10. (14:00) Lunch at El Asador de Aranda (tibidabo restaurant) 11. (16:00) Bus leaves El Asador de Aranda (tibidabo restaurant) 12. (16:20) Bus arrives at Roca Gallery Barcelona 13. (17:40) Bus leaves Roca Gallery 14. (18:00) Bus arrives at Parc Güell. CHOICE: Stay and have coffee and walk around Parc Güell /or/ ride with the bus to the hotel 15. (19:20) Bus leaves Parc Güell arrives at hotel ca 19:50.

16. (20:50) Meet at hotel and walk to dinner 17. (21:00) Dinner at Mariscco Barcelona in Plaça Real 18. (23:25) Meet in hotel lobby to walk to the baths 19. (walk by) Santa Maria del Mar, el marcado del Born 20. (23:45) Los Baños Arabes 21. People walk home on their own with possibility to pass by: Museo de Zoologia / La Ciutadella

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* Walking tour, ca 40 min: - (walk by) Hugo Boss bdlg by Toy Ito (P. de Gracia 83) - walk down passeig de gracia, paving stones by gaudi - (walk by) Museo Tapies - See the back facade of Casa Batlló and interior of an Eixample block.

- Front façade of Casa Batlló and La Manzana de Descordia (Casa Amatller and Casa Morera) - Can have coffee and rest at Hotel Mandarin until bus leaves, or shop a bit on Passeig de Gracia, e.g. visit the chocolate shop at Casa Amatller.

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EXPIATORY TEMPLE OF THE SAGRADA FAMILIA

MILÁ HOUSE (LA PEDRERA) Antoni Gaudí 1906-1910

Antoni Gaudí 1882-1926 Josep Maria Subirachs since 1987

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WALKING TOUR BATLLÓ HOUSE

Remodelling of a rental apartment building Antoni Gaudí 1904-1906

HUGO BOSS BLDG Toyo Ito

Barcelona’s new Hugo Boss store is situated in the emblematic new building with its facade designed by Toyo Ito in front of Casa Pedrera by Gaudí.

PASSEIG DE GRACIA Paving by Antoni Gaudí

Passeig de Gràcia is a boulevard in Barcelona’s Eixample district, running from Plaça Catalunya to Avinguda Diagonal and the edge of Gràcia. The boulevard boasts over 150 protected buildings, including some of the city’s greatest modernist architecture. This has led to the area centred on Passeig de Gràcia becoming known as the Quadrat d’Or, or ’golden square mile’.

The beauty of the avenue is also enhanced by its plane trees and Art Nouveau street lamps, as well as pedestrian strips laid with ornate hexagonal paving stones designed by Gaudí.

MUSEO TAPIES MONTANER PUBLISHING HOUSE Domènech i Montaner designed in the late nineteenth century in Barcelona the headquarters of the Montaner i Simon publishing house. The company closed in 1981 and all the documentation on its extensive catalogue of publications was dispersed. In 1990 the Antoni Tàpies Foundation was installed in this building and since 2004 it is seeking to recover the entire legacy of the publishing house. It now presents a handout programme featuring the most

LA MANZANA DE DESCORDIA Manzana de la Discordia (Apple of discord) is a contemporary pun playing with the word ”manzana ” meaning at the same time ”block of houses” and apple. In the same block of buildings, the three most important architects of the moment: Puig I cadafalch, Domènech I Montaner and Gaudi. Three palaces, three different styles and three different architects is the result of our big pleasure today.

Casa Amatller is a building in the Modernisme style in Barcelona, designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Along with Casa Batlló and Casa Lleó-Morera, it makes up the three most important buildings in Barcelona’s

famous Illa de la Discòrdia (”Block of Discord”), noted for its unique modernist buildings.Casa Amatller was originally designed as a residence for chocolatier Antoni Amatller and was constructed between 1898 and 1900.

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HOTEL MANDARIN

Carlos Ferrater, Juan Trias de Bes, Patricia Urquiola 2009

JAUME FUSTER PUBLIC LIBRARY Josep LlinĂ s, Joan Vera 2001-2005

The Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona opened in November 2009 and was designed by a team of Spanish architects and designers: Carlos Ferrater and Joan Trias de Bes (architecture) and Patricia Urquiola (interior design). The hotel’s 98 guest rooms and suites are housed in a re-developed, mid-20th Century building that was once home to a bank.

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EDIFICIO VIVIENDA LESSEPS

Carlos Ferrater, Lucía Ferrater, Xavier Martí Galí, OAB architects 2004 - 2007 This building of 56 apartments and shops, which stands as the new icon in the Plaza Lesseps in Barcelona, is determined organicallyby dividing into two parts, separated by a space between the blocks. The decision to optimize and emphasize the bay with lightsfrom 8 feet deep along the corridor that is generated. All apartments have a genuine design that opens into space one way or another,like their inhabitants.

The uniqueness of the facade is defined by the set of aluminum sliding shutters of the terraces, which enable integration between interior and exterior. On the ground floor, access to business premises occurs both in free space in blocks or on the street. The park occupies three floors underground and access to it is located in the Riera de Vallcarca.

The aluminum in this area is resolved Volet, a series of sun protection that allows graduating Technal of natural light and creating spaces for free viewing and shadow, where appropriate. All homes are exterior and enjoy an excellent ventilation system.

ROCA GALLERY BARCELONA Carlos Ferrater, OAB architects

Roca, the world leader in bathroom spaces, has inaugurated in Barcelona the brand’s new flagship building; a brand experience centre which will host exhibitions and social and cultural activities.

This innovative building, an international reference for brand buildings, aims to be a new space in which to experience and discover the world of the bathrom.

PLAZA LESSEPS Placa Lesseps has been under heavy reforms for years to move the route of the aforementioned rondes, allowing the square to become a more pedestrian-friendly place while easing the heavy traffic that crosses it on a daily basis. It’s named after Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was a consul in Barcelona and intervened against the 1842 bombing of the city ordered by General Baldomero Espartero and Captain-General Juan Van Halen.

CASA RAMOS Jaume Torres 1906

Today the house includes three separate buildings that share a façade. The Modernist floral motifs and insect-patterned grilles are eye-catching, despite the fact that its ground floor is now almost entirely occupied by storefronts

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PARC GÜELL

LOS BAÑOS ARABES

The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, whom the park was named after. It was inspired by the English garden city movement; hence the original English name Park (in the Catalan language spoken in Catalonia where Barcelona is located, the word for ”Park” is ”Parc”, and the name of the place is ”Parc Güell” in its original language). The site was a rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees, called Muntanya Pelada (Bare Mountain). It already included a large country house called Larrard House or Muntaner de Dalt House, and was next to a neighborhood of upper class houses called La Salut (The Health). The intention was to exploit the fresh air (well away from smoky factories) and beautiful views from the site, with sixty triangular lots being provided for luxury houses. Count Eusebi Güell added to the prestige of the development by moving in 1906 to live in Larrard House. Ultimately, only two houses were built, neither designed by Gaudí.

One was intended to be a show house, but on being completed in 1904 was put up for sale, and as no buyers came forward, Gaudí, at Güell’s suggestion, bought it with his savings and moved in with his family and his father in 1906.[1] This house, where Gaudí lived from 1906 to 1926, was built by Francesc Berenguer in 1904. It contains original works by Gaudí and several of his collaborators. It is now the Gaudí Museum (Casa Museu Gaudí) since 1963. In 1969 it was declared a historical artistic monument of national interest.

Badhanddukar finns. Öppet till 02.00.

Antoni Gaudí 1900-1914

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1. (9:40) Bus leaves the hotel 2. (10:00)* Caixa Forum (Isozaki entry Pavilion + interior courtyard of La fabrica Casarramona) / Mies Van de Rohe Pavilion 3. (11:20) Bus leaves 4. (11:30) Bus arrives at Fundació Joan Miró (Coffee possibility 5. (13:10) Bus leaves 6. (13:20) Walk around Los jardines botánicos de Barcelona (Visit Pavilion) Lunch: Picnic here (food from Miró) 7. (15:20) Bus leaves 8. (drive by) Torre de Calatrava / Palau Sant Jordi / Torres Olimpicos / Siza Meteorology Service Building 9. (15:40) Bus leaves us at Parque Diagonal Mar 10. (16:40) Coffee Break at Princess Hotell** 11. (17:40) El Forum (Hertzog & de Meuron) / Torre Diagonal ZeroZero (Telefónica) 12. (18:20) Take tram from Diagonal Mar 13. Ride past Torre Agbar / Hotel Diagonal Barcelona / DHUB (Design Hub Barcelona) 14. (ca18:40) Tram arrives at last stop 15. (walk by) Torres Olimpicos / Gerry’s fish / Recerca Biomédico / Torre de Gas Natural / Parc de la Barceloneta / New Market of Barceloneta. Mercat de Barceloneta (35 minute walk + time for stops) 16. Rest on the beach 17. (20:30) and dinner at KAIKU

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* 2 groups of 15: One group enters the Fundació at 10:0010:45 then goes to the Caixa Forum until 11:15, one group visits Caixa Forum 10:00 and enters the Pavilion 10:25 - 11:15. **3 groups of ten visit the roof terraces/ have coffee

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FUNDACIÓ CAIXA CATALUNYA Josep Puig i Cadafalch 1913 Entry Arata Isozaki 2002

The social foundation of the Caixa is housed in an important building from the Modernisme. The industrialist Casimir Casarramona, a pioneer in the use of electrically operated machinery in factories, assigned Josep Puig i Cadafalch to the construction of the factory.

Along with Gaudí and Domènech i Montaner, Puig i Cadafalch was as one of the most important architects of the Modernisme, the Catalan art nouveau.

In an impressive way, the factory is an example of how the art nouveau combined functionality and aesthetics. Medieval castles inspired Puig i Cadafalch to build the factory with bricks and decorate it with cast-iron ornaments. Back then, the building was a prime example in respect of fire prevention and was long seen as a standard in the matter of labour conditions.

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BARCELONA PAVILION

Reconstruction of the German pavilion design by Mies van de Roe for the 1929 world exhibition, Ignasi de Solà-Morales; Cristion Cirici, Fernando Ramos 1981-1986

In 1913, the building was inaugurated, in 1919 the clothing factory moved out of it. For quite a while it was vacant before being used as a police station from 1940 to 1992. In 1963, the savings bank ”la Caixa” had become the new proprietor of the building.

In 2002, the Casaramona was reopened as the CaixaForum, the cultural and social centre of the social foundation of the Caixa.

The most important aspects of the reconstruction of the building at the foot of the Montjuïc were to maintain the original structure, colour and style, but also to set new trends. The exhibition space comprising 3,000 sq.m. should be flooded with light. The entrance area was designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. A tree made of steel and glass welcomes the visitors at the CaixaForum.

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FUNDACIÓ JOAN MIRÓ Josep Lluís Sert 1972-1975

LOS JARDINES BOTANICOS Carles Ferrater, Josep Lluís Canosa

The new Botanical Garden of Barcelona has dignified and placed value on an area of the mountain that had been, for some time, forgotten and marginalised. These lands (like others on Montjuïc), were home, between the 1940s and the 1970s, to a large neighbourhood of shanties known as Can Valero and, later on, to an urban landfill site. The Garden was designed by a multidisciplinary team formed by architects, horticulturalist and biologist.

In building it, two fundamental considerations were taken into account:

of the 71 ”phyto-scenarios” that had to display the main plant communities observed in regions of the world with a Mediterranean climate. The result was, therefore, a triangular grid planned over the land, adapted to the surface area, the borders and the topographical slope.

The first was based on structuring the vegetation.

It was necessary to design the plantations following a geographical order, so the plants would be grouped according to the five Mediterranean regions of the world, and within these areas, the plants would be grouped by ecological affinity, i.e., they would represent the natural landscapes.

The second consideration was to achieve a design that would allow the mountain itself to provide the topographical conditions for creating the Garden’s plantation areas. This meant taking advantage of the natural relief to design the network of paths, and to avoid as far as possible any major earthmoving.

As a result of these two premises, the idea emerged of adapting an unstructured grid to the ground. This grid had to rest easy on the mountain’s topographical slope and at the same time mark out sufficient spaces for representation

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MONTJUÏC TELECOMMUNICATIONS TOWER Santiago Calatrava 1989-1992

PALAU SANT JORDI STADIUM Sports pavilion, 1992 Olympic Games Arata Isozaki 1985-1990

FOSTER TELECOMMUNICATION TOWER Norman Foster

Barcelona’s spectacular telecommunications tower, at 288 metres high, as tall and significant as the Eiffel tower, stands on the Collserola hills high above the city. It is set to become a symbol for Barcelona’s massive urban regeneration. Sir Norman Foster has devised a remarkable design concept and a radical construction process.

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TERRITORIAL METEROLOGICAL

EL FORUM

The concrete and brick building, that resembles a closed cylinder, has eight deep radial openings to accommodate terraces and small courtyards. The central courtyard, nine meters in diameter, is open to the sky to let light into the inner rooms.

The Forum Building, also known as Museu Blau de les Ciències Naturals, is an architectural landmark in Barcelona designed by the Swiss architects Jaques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (Herzog & de Meuron).

Alvaro Siza 1992

The building houses two departments; the Meteorological Department on part of the ground floor, on the third and fourth floor and on the rooftop garden with independent access via the intermediate floor which leads to the street via a curved stairway, and the Port Authority, on the lower floors, with independent access via the ground floor and directly over the dock.

The design by Álvaro Siza makes use of existing elements to anchor itself in the area. It begins at the top of the long serpent formed by the trees lining the avenue, extends the service entrance from the seaward side to the basement, aligns the arris of its section to the east towards the large protecting wall of the northern dike, and forms a trapezoidal facade for the square, which faces the sea.

PRINCESS HOTEL

Herzog De Meuron 2004

The building is triangular in shape, measuring 180 metres on each side and 25 metres in height, located within the triangle formed by Diagonal Avenue, Rambla de Prim and the Ronda Litoral.

It was the symbol of the controversial 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures and the serious flaws that arose during its construction were widely covered in both the Spanish national and foreign press. The building has become a political bone of contention, with the opposition parties in both Barcelona Council and the Parliament of Catalonia demanding to know why it cost so much.

The building has an auditorium with a seating capacity of 3,200 and an exhibition hall covering nearly 5,000 square metres.

Oscar Tusquets

A 4* superior hotel located in 1st Diagonal Avenue, beside de CCIB, Forum area and 50 metres from the Mar Bella beach.

FORUM CONFERENCE CENTRE Mateo Arquitectura

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This multi-purpose cultural building includes a very large auditorium, a multi-functional performing space, exhibition spaces, meeting rooms, and a restaurant and foyer, in addition to technical services, loading docks, storage spaces, and car parking on two levels. It was part of the controversial 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona and has 45 translucent halls, spread over 3 floors, 2 mezzanines and a basement. Mateo ’explains’: “I have gone back to loving the precision of iron: normal, but monstrous, banal but not domestic, superhuman.

The bones are covered in the rest of the building.”

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TORRE DIAGONAL ZEROZERO

PARQUE DIAGONAL MAR

The position of Diagonal ZeroZero Tower is exceptional: it is located at the origin of Diagonal, Barcelona’s main avenue; it is very visible from the city and from the coast; and it lays on the border between the consolidated city and the large expanses of public space in the Forum area. Its immediate surroundings consist of isolated buildings in a diverse context of different scales and uses that generate at the same time a metropolitan center and a local neighborhood still in formation.

The park was designed by the architect Enric Miralles taking sustainability criteria, functions as a self-park. The design optimizes the natural resources for their maintenance and apply the latest developments in renewable energy and energy saving.

Enrique Massip

Enric Miralles 2002

Water is the backbone of the park and vegetation conditions in it: they are used for irrigation groundwater. It means that rainwater is stored in underground wells housed, and then made available to the plants and flower through the tubular structures (similar to the ends of arachnids). These pipes run around the park like the pots are decorated with ceramics.

It should be noted that the ecosystem is created on the shores of lakes, as it not only took into account the flora but the fauna. Enric Miralles neighbors sent the interest of preserving nature towards sustainable development, with their opinions and needs when planning the park for a better quality of life.

Enric Miralles, was to seek a new relationship between landscape, architecture and contact with people. This concern stems from Diagonal Mar Park, inspired by the trees and the history of man’s life.

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TORRE AGBAR

PARC RECERCA BIOMEDICA

Jean Nouvel has once again left his iconic mark on the skyline of a city - this time with Barcelona’s Torre Agbar. The bullet-shaped silhouette takes it’s inspiration from the famous Catalan mountain, Montserrat, the crawling waves of the Mediterranean Sea, and of course throws a bit of Gaudí influence in the mix as well.

The lighting composition of the glass louvers creates an abstraction akin to the breaking of waves against a rock formation, and the colors are arranged in a fractious manner which alternate randomly between blues and reds. The exterior lighting is quite spectacular - 4500 multicolored LED panels beautifully illuminate the night every time the sun goes down. Torre Agbar is currently Barcelona’s most visible tourist attraction, and according to it’s designer, is ”one of (Barcelona’s) best ambassadors”.

PRBB building has a total surface of more than 55.000 m2 and is located at a 9000 m2 site at Barcelona’s seafront by the Barceloneta beach, between Hospital del Mar and Arts hotel in the Olympic Village. It is a 117x74 meters building of 9 floors above and 3 floors under ground with elliptical shape and a high level of functional polyvalence. The building project has been carried out by a team of two prestigious architects: Manel Brullet and Albert de Pineda, to create a building that adopts the specific objectives of PRBB.

Jean Nouvel 2005

HOTEL DIAGONAL Juli Capella, Miquel Garcia

The building constitutes a longitudinal prism, forming a screen, with vertical corbels on the façade which stand out like white keys on a black background. The ground floor emulates a great aquarium, with independent sections for the various uses, beneath an undulating ceiling of circumferences.

From a vitreous prism, protrude a series of stone-like vertical corbels. The glass box has three degrees of opacity and a different tone of colour in each storey, a black opaque band covering the framework and installation-work; another serigraphed band, at the height of the railing offering visual protection from the inside, and another transparent band, at the height of the window which provides views and ventilation. These horizontal bands are reinforced by an aluminium bevelled edge delimiting each storey. On this homogeneous base, there are three types of façades: the frontal façades, the West façade looking onto the Agbar tower and the East façade looking onto an internal open square. The frontal façades are framed by white concrete plaques, outlining the framework to show the human scale, and signalling the number of storeys. The façade facing Jean Nouvel’s tower is made up of large 2.5-metre corbels stretching vertically across several storeys. The protusions are opaque at the front, but open at the sides. The corbels are set out like a composition on the horizontal lines of the storeys, like a musical score.

The white glass-reinforced concrete pieces are harmonically superimposed on the black background, showing their volume and lateral width, like a superimposed layer.

DHUB

Oriol Bohigas A building for disseminating sound design practices, strongly linked to new technologies and forms of building, it will inevitably be influenced by concepts such as sustainability, which will become the cornerstone of the DHUB’s construction. The centre’s design brief is focused on optimising resources, for the purpose of saving energy, (installing solar panels, adapting the layout of the site to use accumulated solar energy and a building that takes account of the Mediterranean climate, so that its interior areas are not overheated) and saving water

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Manel Brullet, Albert de Pineda

TORRES OLIMPICOS & GEHRY´S FISH Skidmore Owing & Meril, Frank O Gehry

One of the first public projects of Gehry is the Barcelona Fish – a huge fish sculpture placed on Barcelona’s waterfront for the 1992 Olympics. The monumental fish sculpture functions as a landmark in the Olympic Village, anchoring a retail complex designed by Gehry Partners within a larger hotel development by Skidmore, Owing & Merill. This fish sculpture was also a landmark in the history of Frank O. Gehry & Associates, inaugurating the firm’s use of computer-aided design and manufacturing. The project’s financial and scheduling constraints prompted James M. Glymph, a partner in the firm, to search for a computer program that would facilitate the design and construction process, leading to the adoption of CATIA (computer aided three-dimensional interactive application). The sculpture was modeled entirely in 3D and delivered directly to the fabricators as a 3D model.

HOTEL W Ricardo Bofill

The hotel W Barcelona, located on the new entrance of Barcelona’s Port, appears as a modern icon rising above the Mediterranean sea, and is the landmark of this new area to be developed with high-end retail, office and entertainment venues. A sail shaped building on a 10 hectares land claimed from the sea, is included in an ambitious urban renovation plan of Barcelona coastline.

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GAS COMPANY TOWER

NEW MARKET IN LA BARCELONETA

Enric Miralles, Benedetta Tagliabue 1999-2006

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Josep Miàs 2002-2007

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MĂ…NDAG 3 OKTOBER

1. Check out and loading into the bus 7:00 - 8:00 2. Bus leaves the Hotel 7:50 3. (8:10) Porta Fira de Barcelona, Toyo Ito (convention center, hotel, office tower) 4. (8:50) Bus leaves Porta Fira 5. (9:00) Llobregat Sports Center (C. de Sorral de Riu) 6. (10:00) bus leaves for Airport arrives10:20

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GRAND VIA CONVENTION CENTRE /PORTA FIRA TOWERS

LLOBREGAT SPORTS CENTER Alvaro Siza

Toyo Ito

GRAND VIA CONVENTION CENTRE

This is a lightweight, weightless and transparent volume with a great deal of expressive strength that seeks to harmonise with nature, putting water, natural light and organic shapes centre stage in the conceptual line of its author, the Japanese architect Toyo Ito. One of several buildings to be designed by Toyo Ito in this complex, this convention center building features a grand entry plaza with a low building that features curved glass and undulating roof line supported by asymmetrical and organic forms.

Alvaro Siza projected the Sports Center Llobregat using a group of large interlocking volumes of white concrete in the Barcelona suburb of Cornella, Spain. Each one of this concrete boxes express the primary programmes within: a rectangular box is used for the 2.500 seat sport hall, an oval drum for the swimming pool and a long bar for the ancillary facilities. Two skylights cut into the ceiling fill the souther end with a soft glow, drawing you down towards the swimming pool entrance. Once inside, a punched ceiling creates a playful and unique atmosphere. When you head back to the entrance, a high-level window frames a view of Barcelona’s rooftops, to remind you where you are about to return.

PORTA FIRA TOWERS

The work of the architect Toyo Ito and the b720 Arquitectos practice headed by Fermín Vázquez, this architectural complex has the objective of giving a response to its urban surroundings, turning into the formalisation of the access portal to the cities of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and Barcelona from the international airport of El Prat.

The project is composed of two differentiated towers that maintain a subtle dialogue. Even though both buildings present a clear contrast with regard to shape, as a whole they achieve a harmonious and complementary relationship. The buildings – 110 metres in height each – have a powerful symbolic charge, as they emulate the historic Venetian towers that lead into the trade fair site in Barcelona’s Plaza España.

The hotel tower (GF+25) has been designed in an organic shape and its perception changes as one goes around it.

Given the constructional difficulty posed by the building’s geometry, the façade has been divided into two skins.

The interior one is a watertight enclosure based on a lightweight curtain wall solution with aluminium and glass panels, devised to ensure it meets all acoustic, thermal and watertightness demands. The external façade, in contrast, is a second skin that gives a variable texture and geometry to the tower. The skin is composed of independent aluminium tubes held together by their ends with joints that permit the desired torsion.

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EDIFICIO INTERMODAL DEL AEROPUERTO DE BARCELONA Carlos Ferrater, Ricardo Bofill

The object of the project is the definition of an intermodal building that will serve as a nexus of union for the existing terminals A and B while also integrating and resolving the links between the airport terminals and the rail and metro stations.The building consists of two main floors at levels 0.00 and 5.00, and establishes a functional and access continuity with the existing terminals. Level 0.00 corresponds to the ground floor of terminals A and B.

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