Whilst I was staying at the Hotel ME Barcelona in Poblenou, it was difficult not to be aware of the extraordinary number of flagship architectural projects that have now been completed in the area. There’s Herzog & de Meuron’s Forum Building, David Chipperfield’s Oficines Diagonal 197, the Complex de Cinemes-Plaça de les Arts by Zaha Hadid and the hotel itself, designed by Dominique Perrault. Overlooking everything is the 38-storey Torre Agbar, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.
But it’s not the only Jean Nouvel project in the area. There’s this:
His Parc de Centre del Poblenou opened in spring 2008, and is quite extraordinary. The main garden is planted with trees and there is a ramp of volcanic soil (which hides a small recycling plant). In the second garden, trees surround the old Oliva-Artés factory, and in the third garden there is a spiral crater.
Designed to provide an oasis for the community in this formerly industrial quarter of the city, the different areas have shady areas & metal chairs for the residents to contemplate the trees and bizarre design. With Gaudi’s masterpiece cathedral only a few miles away, this is a worthy successor to that particular kind of architectural bonkers-ness.
LLG was a guest of the Hotel ME Barcelona
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Great post on one of my favourite cities.
Barcelona underwent a massive regeneration/modernisation phase in the late 80s/early 90s to make it a worthy host of the 92 Olympics. Since then, the city has become Spain’s hub for avant-guard architectural and cultural projects.
Love Barcelona!!