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On the occasion of the upcoming UIA (Union Internationale des Architectes) World Congress of Architects in Barcelona, I have decided to post some tours of architectural interest. This first one focusses upon Barcelona’s many passatges (arcades or passageways).

#arcades #Barcelona #passageways #urbanism

El Raval Needs Your Help!

As you may know from reading this blog, I have been involved, together with the neighborhood association Xarxa Veïnal del Raval (XVR), in a battle to save Barcelona’s Plaça dels Àngels from MACBA contemporary art museum’s expansion. Last year, XVR suffered a setback in its legal challenge to City Council’s irregular rezoning of part of Plaça dels Àngels. Of the four judges who ruled in the case,…

#activism #Barcelona #macba

It's by Gaudí After All

1905 photo of Xalet de Catllaràs (image courtesy Wikipedia) [Originally published in Bauwelt 8.2026] It’s official: Antoni Gaudí is now certified to be the architect of Xalet de Catllaràs, a remote mountain hut situated high in the forested foothills of the Catalan Pyrenees. Although this has long been rumored to be the case among locals, no documents have ever been uncovered providing proof,…

#authorship #Bauwelt #Càtedra Gaudí #Gaudí #La Pobla de Lillet #Xalet de Catllaràs

Article on Gaudí Mountain Hut Authorship Certification

I have published an article on the certification of Antoni Gaudí’s authorship of the Xalet Catllaràs mountain hut in the German architecture magazine Bauwelt.

#Bauwelt #Gaudí #Mountain hut #Xalet de Catllaràs

Form Follows Material

[Originally published in OnSite Review #48] In the search for sustainable building materials, wood has come again to the fore. It is a natural material that is renewable (as long as the forests from which it is sourced are well-managed), that sequesters carbon dioxide (as long as buildings constructed of it are long-lasting), and has relatively recently become available in the form of much…

#Bibliotèca Gabriel García Márquez #building materials #engineered wood #IMPSOL-AMB #library #Modulus Matrix #Onsite Review #Peris+Toral #social housing #suma arquitectura

Yes, Ban Housing Speculation!

A 40 m2 Barcelona studio apartment advertised for €1550/month, more than two thirds of the average monthly wage in that city. Image courtesy idealista.com The government of Catalonia wants to ban housing speculation. It is currently studying the constitutional legality of banning the ownership of more than one home in areas where the housing crisis is acute. These areas include inner city…

#capitalism #Catalonia #housing #real-estate #speculation

Revisit: La Fábrica

Ricardo Bofill lived and worked in La Fábrica until his death in 2022, constantly transforming it. ‘The factory will always be a work in progress, which is part of its fascination,’ he once wrote. The site continues to undergo transformation today; upon approaching the entrance gate, a pair of old, very thick and tall concrete walls were recently stained in ochre, partially concealing the ageing…

#adaptive re-use #La Fábrica #politics #Ricardo Bofill #Taller de Arquitectura #The Architectural Review

Review of Vall d'Hebron Fire Station Training Tower

My review of the Vall d’Hebron Fire Station Training Tower in Barcelona by architect Carles Enrich is published in Bauwelt 15.2025.

#Barcelona #Bauwelt #Carles Enrich #Fire station

Entrevista en 'Habla con Daria'

He sido entrevistado en el programa Habla con Daria por Daria Gavrilova, una periodista independiente. Hemos hablado sobre arquitectura en Barcelona, Gaudí, la ampliación del Macba, y otros temas.

#Daria Gavrilova #entrevista #Habla con Daria

The Mediterranean Corridor

Spain’s much-lauded high-speed rail network is based on a hub-and-spoke model with Madrid, the Spanish capital, at its very centre. This works very well for travel along high-speed lines to and from Madrid, but not between the country’s second- and third-largest cities of Barcelona and Valencia respectively, which are separated by only 350 km and yet are not connected by high-speed rail. The…

#Barcelona #decentralization #high-speed rail #infrastructure #logistics #Mediterranean Corridor #Spain #transportation #Valencia

Radiotherapy and Hemodialysis Center

[Originally published in The Architectural Review, April 2025] While hospitals naturally require particular sanitary conditions, they must also accommodate people who are among the most vulnerable in society. The newly born, the sick, the injured and the dying are all in need of a comforting environment. This is something that was understood by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, who designed Barcelona’s…

#Baas Arquitectura #brick #Casa SOLO #Catalonia #healthcare #The Architectural Review

Outrage: MACBA goes massive and public space suffers

[Originally published in The Architectural Review online] The multicultural working-class neighbourhood of El Raval, in the historic centre of Barcelona, is one of the most densely inhabited urban quarters in Europe. Flats are small and overcrowded, streets are narrow, and parks are few and far between, making public space a vital necessity. Yet Barcelona City Council has recently rezoned…

#Barcelona #macba #outrage #politics #privatization #public space #The Architectural Review #urbanism #zoning

'Outrage' article in The Architectural Review on MACBA expansion

I have penned an article in the ‘Outrage’ section of The Architectural Review on the controversial expansion of the MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona) in protected public space.

#Barcelona #El Raval #MACBA #public space #Zoning

Ambiguous Spaces

Versatile, flexible, undefined spaces: towards a sustainable and resilient domestic architecture [Originally published in Marta Poch, ed.: Housing in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona 2015-2024. Barcelona: IMPSOL-AMB, 2024] Over the last decade, a significant shift has taken place in the architecture of IMPSOL social housing, a wave of innovation that has not occurred in half a century. These…

#ambiguous space #Barcelona #dwelling unit #flexibility #housing #IMPSOL-AMB #social housing #versatility #well-being

Intermediary Space and Free Play

[Originally published in de Aedibus 110: CLR Architectes] By their ability to offer a threshold between the city and the habitat, [transitory spaces] valorize a valuable intermediate scale that softens the abrupt legal divide between public and private space.-Patrick Longchamp, CLR Architectes1 Architecture always mediates. It shelters from extreme climate and protects from intrusion while…

#CLR Architectes #de Aedibus #Free play #Intermediary space #Quart #Switzerland

Media Stunts Against Administrative Neglect

What can a couple of architects do when three flats in their building have been squatted for two years by a gang of thieves and drug dealers whose business activity continues unabated even during a pandemic? What can be done about administrative neglect that effectively provides impunity to delinquent activity, and that moreover aggravates the current public health emergency? Doesn’t Lefebvre’s…

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#ephemeral architecture #media stunt #narcotics #neighborhood action #pandemic lockdown #Protest #Resistance

Climate Change? Here it is:

Valencia flash flood debris. The floods that hit Valencia on 29 October were unprecedented. In the space of only eight hours, a year’s worth of rain fell, causing flash floods that killed over 230 people. Many victims died some distance away from where all that rain actually fell; they were hit by an unexpected tsunami that roared downstream wiping out bridges and damaging buildings while…

#climate change #denialism #fascism #floods #Valencia

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