More than 20 years ago, the Can Solei i Ca l'Arnús park in Badalona became a metropolitan park after years of expropriations supported by intense popular pressure. Almost a quarter of a century later, a cultural project will transform it into the great Parc de les Arts.
Located in the Casagemes neighbourhood, Ca l'Arnús is a large green lung of 10.8 hectares, unique for the beauty of its gardens and the wealth of plants and fauna. The oldest part (1870-1888) is designed as a romantic garden, with paths between lush vegetation and winding paths with sculptures, gazebos, grottoes, waterfalls and a large navigable lake. Three buildings stand out: the Ca l'Arnús farmhouse, the Clara house and the old Artur Martorell school.
Since the space became public property, the site, and especially the buildings, have been deteriorating, partly due to litigation and the claim of a promoter, Drexis-Tusgal, with the participation of the public bus company, to build half hundred floors, an initiative that the current municipal government has interrupted with the negotiation of the exchange of other land in the city.
The Ca l'Arnús, Parc de les Arts project, according to the mayor of Badalona, Rubén Guijarro, "is a firm commitment to provide the city with an artistic space" that will promote the associative fabric, will provide the city with a space dedicated to comics and illustration, and from which Dual Vocational Training policies and a space for musicians from Badalona will be promoted. "We will shield the parks from real estate speculation and the occupation of buildings," said the first mayor. All this embodied in the agreement with the Fundació Acicac, the non-profit association of Houses of Innovation, Culture and Art of Catalonia, with extensive experience in the management of spaces.
In the main building, the Ca l'Arnús farmhouse, it is planned to locate the reference space for holding conferences, celebrations and events, also of small format, such as weddings and other citizen events. It will be the tourist information point of the parks and from there guided tours of the enclosure will be organized.
The farmhouse, once renovated, will be a multidisciplinary space for the presentation of books, works of art and all kinds of cultural activities. It could also be the headquarters of entities of the Barcelonès Nord. It will be linked to the Meteorological Tower to disseminate everything related to climate awareness and make natural sciences known.
The building will house Acicac's headquarters in Catalonia and from there the agreements will be promoted to recover the tangible and intangible Catalan heritage. This space will have a restaurant open to the public, with an outdoor terrace at the back, which will be offered to local operators who choose to join the Catalan restaurant group Atzucac created by Acicac.
The building of the old Artur Martorell school will become the Casa del Còmic y la Ilustración de Badalona. The Comic Museum is one of the projects that has not been able to materialize in the city, so now there is an intermediate formula to generate synergies, fairs and a program based on comics and illustration. It is also considered as a space for debate for the new creative languages linked to the plastic arts.
The Casa Clara, the third building in the park, according to planning, will house the new Escola d'Arts Escèniques de Badalona, which will be managed with criteria and public enrollment. At the same time, it will have a space for creative experimentation in various formats linked to the scene. The creation center, according to the project, will have its own scenic programming designed to promote rehearsals with real audiences.
A part of the space will be dedicated to promoting dance, from the sardana to the contemporary. In this building there will also be a restaurant, which can be used as an extension of the spaces for large events or, in the case of cultural fairs in the park, to expand the service.
