Plaça de las Glòries has been one of the most transformed spaces in Barcelona in recent years and few still do not remember that ring road named scalextric, built for the Olympic Games and demolished in 2014. Ildefons Cerdà's will was to project a new centrality in this area of the city that since yesterday and for ten days has become a scenario for urban experimentation with the second edition of the Model architecture festival, one of the outstanding initiatives to celebrate the UNESCO World Capital of Architecture in 2026 .
The contest brings together proposals from local and international architects with a series of temporary installations that try to reflect on the public space of the future and outline different urban imaginaries. "The structures invite us to rethink how we want to live together on important issues that are part of our daily lives, from air quality to access to water or the production of new common spaces," said Eva Franch, the artistic director of the festival, promoted by the Barcelona City Council and managed this year through the Mies van der Rohe Foundation.
Five ephemeral installations created for the occasion have been incorporated into a square in Glòries upside down due to the works. Thus, in the Cran Clariana in the park, a provisional pavilion has been erected presided over by an ancient sculpture of the goddess Minerva, the work of the sculptor Salvador Gurri and which apparently formed part of a missing fountain in the Plaza del Teatre de la Rambla. Its current home is a municipal warehouse until it is restored. Also seen are the controversial New Jersey concrete blocks, placed one on top of the other and repainted a metallic color instead of their signature yellow. "Instead of extracting new materials, we have used pieces that are unused in warehouses between projects and can then be returned without creating a carbon footprint," explained the architect Carla Ferrando, from the Parabase studio, which together with the Kosmos team have designed this facility.
On the other side of the park, the roof of a B:SM car park has been conditioned to be a bee house through some fungi that make up panels in which pollinating insects can find refuge. “This morning we have already seen some bees! Large cities can be centers of biodiversity”, claimed the author of the project, the American architect Ariane Harrison. A look with an environmental background also has as its common thread the work of the architect Daryan Knoblauch, specialized in technology, performing arts and nature. Located in Plaza de Josep Antoni Coderch, next to the Barcelona Design Museum (DHUB), there are some panels that measure air pollution in the city and a kind of large funnel is ready to capture water in case of necessary rain. .
Another installation, located on the side of the Gran Via, addresses the issue of care. With the name of 'Mammal. Collective lactation point, a wooden structure is useful for those mothers who want to breastfeed their children in "a safe and pleasant public space", as highlighted by the architect Raquel Marcos from the Equal Saree studio, who designed this prototype.
And finally, one of the already emblematic buildings of the city, the Encants market, houses modules built with parts sold on the premises, from furniture legs to rugs. The installation, designed by the Barcelona architecture studio h3o Architects, is intended to be a meeting space and also functions as a bookshelf. Coinciding with Sant Jordi, this facility will host a book fair on architecture in a day with debates and presentations.
On the other hand, augmented reality will be present once again with virtual projects using QR codes and participatory initiatives such as the creation of a digital archive of neighborhood protests and other demands on the -1 floor of the DHUB. In parallel, presentations and debates will be organized that will delve into topics related to architecture, urban planning, landscaping and other disciplines. One more year, Barcelona becomes a laboratory for architectural experimentation.
