[originalmente publicado en BCN MÉS #79] En las últimas décadas, hemos logrado conectar la ciudad con el mar, hemos creado espacios … More
Tag: tourism
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
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
Disappearing Act
[Originally published in Baumeister 9/2017] As the place where Ancient Greeks first set foot on the Iberian peninsula, the archaeological … More
Loop the Loop
[Originally published in Mark Magazine #69] Solo Houses is the name of a project that’s intended to include more than … 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
Vacation Ruin
Ruins are as depressing as they are beautiful. Building abandonment is never a happy occurrence, but when it precedes building inhabitation, it’s … More
Design and Decadence in Sabiñanigo
The land-scars of Spain’s construction boom-gone-bust have been documented photographically to great extent. More typically than not, these images portray a landscape of newly built … More
The Tall Building Politically Reconsidered
The tall building has been an expression of machista one-upmanship since its earliest beginnings. San Gimignano’s stone towers are a built testament … 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
Cities that Come and Go
Within walking distance of Barcelona’s historic centre, there lies a small satellite town that comes and goes with regularity. It tends to … 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
Tourism versus Terrorism
Is tourism a form of terrorism? Some Barcelonins seem to think so. All over the city — especially near tourists sites … More
Power, Corruption and Architecture
Transparency International released its annual report some weeks ago, and this year’s corruption perception index, which ranks 177 countries from least to most … More
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
Architecture Road-Tripping: Marseille
Earlier this August, I went on a roadtrip through southern France and spent two nights in l’Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, … More
La Grande Motte Revisited
I first saw La Grande Motte in the summer of 1978, more than a decade before I would graduate from … 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
Strange Bedfellows
The image at left shows the construction of the “Instant City” during the congress of the International Council of Societies … More
Architourism
Tourism is the only ‘industry’ in Spain that is not downsizing in the current (well, actually it’s been five years … 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
Us and Theme
If Venice, the Wild West, or Asia can be themes for parks, casinos, or hotels, then why not contemporary architecture? … 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
Benidorm: The Pursuit of Pleasure by the Most Efficient Available Means
Benidorm is a city in southeastern Spain with an urban morphology that is highly unusual for Europe: it is a … More
Criticalista 