Starting this Thursday, one of the changing areas of the city, the future Parc de les Glòries, will become the setting for the second edition of the Barcelona Model architecture festival. Until April 30, both local and international architects and designers will experiment with urban space and draw new imaginaries. The most attractive will be the five ephemeral installations that have been created for the occasion.
Thus, one of the already emblematic buildings of the city, the Encants market, will house a kind of agora to encourage dialogue and celebrate other activities such as a dance area and other leisure proposals. These uses will be possible thanks to an installation designed by the Barcelona architecture studio h3o Architects that will take advantage of pieces of furniture sold in the market. Coinciding with Sant Jordi, this facility will host a book fair on architecture in a day with debates and presentations of editorial novelties.
A place of passage like the Gran Via will be transformed into a space for lactation. The Equal Saree proposal wants to show the need to incorporate a network of spaces to normalize this natural act in an accessible and comfortable place given the difficulties of breastfeeding in the public sphere. The organizers highlight that 52% of women hide to breastfeed and up to 63.5% had felt judged at some time, according to a study carried out in 2022 in which 200 nursing mothers participated.
On the other hand, on the disused roof of the Barcelona Serveis Municipals (B:SM) car park on Ciutat de Granada street, a mushroom structure will be installed that forms panels in which pollinating insects can find refuge. The project of the Harrison Atelier studio, based in Brooklyn, will send the message that cities not only live in human beings but also are a habitat for other species.
A look with an ecological background will also have the temporary work located in the Plaza de Josep Antoni Coderch. In the surroundings of the Barcelona Design Museum (DHUB), a structure will be placed that will measure and capture air pollution, designed by the architect Daryan Knoblauch, specialized in technology, performing arts and nature.
Without neglecting the importance of the environment, some totem poles will be erected from reused materials, such as the controversial concrete blocks, in the grassy area of Gran Clariana de les Glòries. The initiative, entitled Permanently Temporary by the architects Kosmos and Parabase based in Zurich and Graz, will be articulated through elements found in various warehouses and in works for which the pickaxe has worked. This space will play a versatile role as it will serve as a workshop, information point and organization of debates.
Augmented reality will be present once again with virtual projects ranging from neighborhood protests to a reflection on energy resources with the projection of a huge marine platform in the center of Parc de les Glòries, among other proposals.
In parallel, presentations and debates will be organized that will delve into issues related to architecture, urban planning, landscaping and other disciplines. In this sense, the Torre Glòries viewpoint will host the second edition of the so-called Barcelona protocol, an act in which a joint document on the future of cities will be promoted with the participation of architects and other professionals not only from the city of Barcelona but with representatives from other parts of the planet, such as Seoul, Montreal or the capital of Mozambique, Maputo. Another novelty will be the possibility of getting to know private libraries with prior registration through visits curated by the architect Beth Galí. Among them, the libraries of Bohigas-Galí (Wednesday, April 26), the Proustiana of Ferran Cuito (Thursday, April 27) and that of Miralles-Tagliabue (Sunday, April 30).
This architectural festival, promoted by the Barcelona City Council and managed this year through the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, has the artistic direction of Eva Franch and is one of the great events created to celebrate the World Capital of Architecture of the Unesco in 2026. The motto of the event for this edition is Radical Empathy, a declaration of intent that is committed to rethinking spaces and buildings beyond the users who use them to take the community into account and address social or environmental issues.
