Sharing School

[Originally published in Bauwelt 5.2023. Photos by Aitor Estévez] Barcelona has some of the densest neighborhoods in Europe, so it … More

Not in Our Public Space

Public space belongs to everyone. That’s why the latest proposal to expand the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA) … More

Open House

[Originally published in Bauwelt March 2022] Since the emergence of the pandemic, outdoor private space has come to be newly … More

Grit and Glam

[Originally published in DETAIL magazine 5.2021] There is no mistaking old from new in this adaptive reuse project by Baas … More

Dear Mayor Ada Colau:

Dear Ms Colau, internationally esteemed mayor of Barcelona. I write this letter in English because many citizens of Barcelona are … More

Barcelona, posa’t guarra (get dirty)

Welcome to Carrer Príncep de Viana in the Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona, a small, normally quiet street lined with trees … More

Canadà Park: Barcelona’s Maple Leaf Themed Suburb

As an architect who is blessed with having double citizenship–Spanish as well as Canadian– I was quite amused, while on … More

Circular Container Housing

Does the sight of absurd architectural projects containing shipping containers make you cringe? Do you break into a cold sweat … More

110 Rooms, 22 Flats, and One Good Idea

[Originally published in Baumeister 3/2020] The number of rooms contained in a building is not the way most young architects … More

Circle of Life

[Originally published in The Architectural Review December 2019/January 2020] Article 12 of the 1964 Venice Charter of the International Council on … More

CAP Macba

[Publicado originalmente en BCN MÉS #80] El pollo que se está montando entre el movimiento vecinal ravalero y el Macba sobre el … More

¡Viva la macromani!

Como ocurre cada verano, otro año más se van llenando las calles de miles de turistas, aquella especie que arrasa … More

Viviendas para vivir

[originalmente publicado en BCN MÉS #79] En las últimas décadas, hemos logrado conectar la ciudad con el mar, hemos creado espacios … More

Electoral Architecture

Elections for the mayorship of Barcelona are coming up later this year, and we’re already being delivered promises in the … More

Mercats: Sant Antoni & Abat

[originalmente publicado en BCN MÉS #74] Ahora que el recién reformado Mercat de Sant Antoni lleva unos meses abierto, ha llegado el … More

Is Tourism the Only Thing Killing Barcelona?

A few days ago, The Guardian published a piece titled “Why Tourism is Killing Barcelona” that describes the damage that “overtourism” … More

Bicivia 7: El carril bici que une la metrópoli

[articulo publicado originalmente en BCN MÉS #71] En marzo [2018] se inauguró un nuevo carril bici –la Bicivia 7– de apenas … More

Mega-Market

Barcelona’s biggest market, Mercat Sant Antoni, has finally opened its doors after a renovation process lasting nearly a decade. The … More

Notes from a Recent Construction Site Visit

I was recently fortunate enough to be shown a truly interesting work of architecture currently under construction in Barcelona: La … More

Inner Space

[Originally published in Azure Magazine November 2017] For an up-and-coming advertising agency called The Keenfolks, following the rules is not necessarily top … More

Diving Deep

[Originally published in Frame Magazine #118] In creating Tunateca Balfegó Espai Gastronómic, a restaurant dedicated exclusively to dishes prepared with Atlantic … More

La globalización de los mercados municipales

[publicado originalmente en BCN MÉS #63] Cualquiera que haya pisado uno de los recién remodelados mercados municipales en barcelona se … More

Destination Architecture

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #68] Barcelona may be well known today as an urban tourism destination, but it was … More

Interview with Daniel Mòdol, Architect and Politician

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #68] In Barcelona, architect and independent politician Daniel Mòdol was recently appointed city councillor for … More

Super-Islands

The city block is a fundamental element of urbanism. The Ancient Romans called a city block an insula, or “island”, which is … More

Revisiting Casa Bloc

The architecture of housing differs fundamentally from the architecture of other building types in that it is never a purely qualitative … More

Dis-fru-tar

[Originally published in Azure, November-December 2015] Disfrutar means “to enjoy” in Spanish. It’s an appropriate name for a restaurant that encapsulates … More

Cycling Barcelona versus Copenhagen: an Experiential Comparison

The other day I read an interesting critique of Barcelona’s cycling infrastructure titled “The Arrogance of Space”, by the Copenhagenize … More

Size Isn’t Everything

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #57] It’s been said that the most difficult thing to design in architecture is a … More

The Art Studio-Museum

[Originally published in Oris Magazine #92] Situated on the distant side of the forested hillcrest that overlooks Barcelona, the Arranz-Bravo Studio … More

Selfie Scene

With the invention of the ‘selfie’, the traditional comic foreground or carnival cutout is rendered obsolete, along with the profession of carnival portrait photographer. … More

New ‘Public’ Space in Barcelona

“The goal is to turn this old, unloved port into the best super marina in the world, to integrate yachting … More

Brutal Underground

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #54] Barcelona has a problem: too many motor vehicles occupy too much space and fill … More

Barcelona’s Disappearing Green Façades

Barcelona’s ‘green façades’ are disappearing at an alarming rate. A part of this city’s vernacular tradition, the small balconies typically used by apartment … More

Morning Glory

It must surely be a signal from the cosmos. Yesterday, September 8th, at precisely 7:39 AM,  I woke up, opened … More

When in Rome

Barcelona’s public space is yet again being hotly contested. Protests against the many illegal tourist apartments in this city, sparked by last week’s publication … More

Destination: Barcelona’s Renaissance Fira Hotel

[Originally published in Azure, May 2014] The elevator soars up the Hotel Renaissance Fira Barcelona, and my knees buckle beneath … More

Skin-Deep Beauty

Rambla de Canaletes, Barcelona. 8:30 AM. The morning light is shining through the window openings of a façade that has been … More

The Barcelona Brand

Barcelona is the sixth most powerful urban brand in the world, according to a report published today in The Guardian, … More

B720 Corners the Flea Market

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #48] With its beginnings dating back to the 14th century, Barcelona’s flea market La Fira de Bellcaire (also known … More

Tourism versus Terrorism

Is tourism a form of terrorism? Some Barcelonins seem to think so. All over the city — especially near tourists sites … More

2014

Hotel Agbar?

Barcelona’s La Vanguardia newspaper reported three days ago that the Agbar Tower, an office building designed by Jean Nouvel and completed in … More

Sagrada Familia Doubt

A recent video illustrating “the final stages of Gaudí’s masterpiece”  represents, we are led to believe, La Sagrada Familia completed. However, … More

Sociability Generator

[Originally published in Azure, October 2013] Gràcia, with its narrow streets and the atmosphere of the former village still intact, … More

A Barcelona Hotel gets Graphic

[Originally published in Azure, September 2013] For Pau, its new hotel in Barcelona, the Room Mate group sought an interior … More

Learned from Las Vegas: DHUB Design Museum, Barcelona, by MBM

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #45] This building is important. It occupies a prominent site at the intersection of three of … More

Step Right Up. Architectural Monumentality. Three Boxer Shorts for Only 6€.

Flea markets are normally found under bridges, in empty parking lots, or in old industrial sheds. This flea market (which … More

Product Placement / Emplazamiento publicitario

Product Placement [Originally published in Arquitectura Viva #153 under the title “Marcas y contextos”. Translation: Eduardo Prieto] “Designed by Apple … More

The Forest Metaphor

The Drassanes Reials (royal shipyard) of Barcelona has recently reopened after a lengthy renovation by architects Robert and Esteve Terradas. … More

Bullshit Island

“Barcelona Island will be an out of this world experience for all guests of ‘Mobilona Space Hotel’ who wish they … More

The Vancouver Model versus El Modelo Barcelona: Trevor Boddy talks, Francesc Muñoz responds.

The Canadian port city of Vancouver has entered centre stage of the global debate about future directions for cities in the sustainability … More

A Whimsical Water Tower in…Barcelona?

I spotted this fantastic water tower the other day while walking around Poble Nou, Barcelona’s industrial graveyard. Claes Oldenburg and … More

Construction as Spectacle: Mercat dels Encants

The construction of the new Mercat dels Encants / Fira de Bellcaire (Barcelona’s flea market), by b720 Arquitectos, is not only spectacular … More

Garden and Gaffe

Leon Battista Alberti famously wrote: “The city is like some large house and the house in turn like some small … More

Going Slowly: Cadaval and Solà-Morales

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #39] “Young architects” is a culturally loaded term, often conjuring notions of rebellion, utopian idealism, … More

Gaudí’s hanging chain models: parametric design avant la lettre?

It is known that Gaudí preferred modelling architecture over drawing it; especially models made of chains hung from a ceiling, or strings … More

The Cantilever Race

The skyscraper race is over. It’s been won hands down by an absurdly high building in Dubai which doesn’t look … More

Context is Still Everything

The building visible in the photo above is a soon-to-be-completed design museum by the veteran firm MBM (Martorell, Bohigas, MacKay). … More

Blackwash

You wouldn’t know it from looking at photographs such as these. You wouldn’t even know it if you were standing … More

Top-Down Tower

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #27] Social housing is among the most regulated–and least glamorous–areas of architecture. While all housing … More

Building as Research

  Truss space Two facades with different pillow systems: ETFE fog configuration and ETFE diaphragm configuration. The range of building … More

Jurisprudence

Courts of justice are steeped in protocol and decorum, not merely because of tradition, but in order to establish and … More

W: what is it good for?

A building has been going up–or did it come from outer space?–on Barcelona’s Sant Sebastià Beach that is popularly refered … More

Designer Façadism

A new luxury apartment building for tourists has recently opened on Passeig de Gràcia, across from Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Milà, … More

Disseny Hype

“Disseny Hub” is a new cultural institution in Barcelona dedicated to design; or, to put it more correctly, to promoting … More

Gaudí in Red Alert

“Gaudí en alerta roja” is the title of an online petition currently the source of much debate in Barcelona. Its … More

Welcome to the Hotel Barcelona

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, Barcelona is in the tail-end of a hotel construction boom. And Barcelona being “Barceloooooonaaaaaa” means, … More

The Virtue of Reality: “Puntos de luz”, the butterfly effect, and (web) site-specificity

[Originally published in http://www.puntosdeluz.net by Chema Alvargonzalez] The butterfly effect, first formulated by meteorologist Edward Lorenz in the 1970s, “refers … More