* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
The space freed up by the closure of the North (railway) Station, which was equivalent to a total of 57,757 m², was land that, in 1983, Barcelona City Council purchased from Renfe. The objective was to urbanize the area and create a series of facilities for the city.
The City Council's objective was to convert the old building into a terminal for long-distance buses. On the land adjacent to the station, occupied by the railway tracks, he intended to build an Auditorium, which was delayed until 1997 because the area where the National Theater of Catalonia was also built had to be developed.
The main building of the North Station was converted into three parts: the central part was converted in 1987 into a sports complex, which was sponsored by the Organizing Committee of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, to become the headquarters of the events of table tennis.
After the Olympics, the building on the left was converted to be a new bus terminal for all international lines. And the building on the right was converted to become the Urban Guard barracks.
Outside, the area near the front of the original entrance to the station was converted into an urban park, the work of Carme Fiol and Andreu Arriolo, in which two sculptures by the North American artist Beverly Pepper were installed.
On the continuous land that coincides with Marina Street, there is a space adjacent to the park and an amateur soccer field with a grandstand for spectators who come on holidays to watch the games.
The walk continues under the Marina Street bridge, following the old path that the train followed until the ditch on Aragón Street, which began after the level crossing of the land of the future Plaza de las Glòries.
For lovers of history and the events that the station took place, I will comment that, in 2002, Fernando Trueba filmed here a part of the film El embrujo de Shanghai, performed by Ariadna Gil and Fernando Fernán Gómez, Jorge Sanz and Antonio Resines, based on the novel of the same title written by Juan Marsé.
Two of the works that were built on the old grounds of the station were the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the work of Ricardo Bofill, which began construction in 1991 and was inaugurated on November 12, 1996 with the premiere of Ángeles en América. by Tony Kushner, directed by Josep Maria Flotats.
The other building is L'Auditori, designed by Rafael Moneo, with an area of 42,000 m², which are divided into four rooms:
The building stood out in the entrance atrium with a monumental cubic glass dome, decorated by Pablo Palazuelo. To carry out the acoustic part of the rooms, Moneo had the collaboration of Higini Arau, an engineer specialized in acoustics.
L'Auditori was officially inaugurated on Monday, March 23, 1999 at 9 pm with a concert by the Barcelona and National Symphony Orchestra of Catalonia.
