Contemporary architecture of Barcelona

The architecture of Barcelona has had an evolution parallel to that of the rest of Catalan architecture, and has followed in a diverse way the multiple tendencies that have taken place in the context of the history of Western art. Throughout its history, Barcelona has welcomed various cultures and civilizations, which have contributed their concept of art and have left their legacy for posterity, from the first Iberian settlers, through the Roman settlers, Visigoths and A brief Islamic period, until the emergence in the Middle Ages of Catalan art, language and culture, with a first period of splendor for Catalan art, where Romanesque and Gothic periods were very fruitful for to the artistic development of the region.

The twentieth century was the updating of the various styles produced by the Barcelona architects, who connected with the international currents and put the city in the forefront of the avant-garde. The architectural development in recent years and the commitment to design and innovation, as well as the linking of urbanism with ecological values and sustainability, have made the Catalan capital one of the most important European cities in the architectural field, which has been recognized with numerous prizes and distinctions, such as the prize of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1999) and the Venice Biennial Award (2002).

The architectural heritage of the city enjoys a special protection under Law 9/1993 of the Catalan Cultural Heritage, which guarantees the protection, conservation, investigation and dissemination of cultural heritage, with various degrees of coverage: level A (Cultural Good of National Interest), level B (Cultural Good of Local Interest), level C (Good of Urbanistic Interest) and level D (Good of Documentary Interest).

20th Century
The artistic panorama in the 20th century was conditioned by the convulsive political situation, with the end of the monarchy in 1931 and the arrival of the Second Republic, completed with the Civil War and replaced by the Franco dictatorship, until the re-establishment of the monarchy and the arrival of democracy. Socially, this century saw the massive influx of immigration to the city, with the consequent increase in the population: if in 1900 there were 530,000 inhabitants, in 1930 they had almost doubled (1 009 000 hab), to arrive between 1970 and 1980 to the maximum (1 754 900) and at the end of the century to 1 500 000 inhabitants.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the geographical expansion of the city: in 1897 Barcelona was annexed six bordering towns, until then independent: Sants, Les Corts, Sant Gervasi de Cassoles, Gràcia, Sant Andreu de Palomar and Sant Martí de Provençals. Also, in 1904 Horta was annexed; in 1921, Sarrià; in 1924, Collblanc and the Zona Franca; and in 1943 the Good Shepherd and the Baron de Viver, segregated from Santa Coloma de Gramenet. The annexation of the new municipalities raised the need for a plan of links to the city, which came to a public tender in 1903, being the French urbanist Léon Jaussely winner: the Jaussely Plan envisaged large road infrastructures (round trips, diagonals, maritime rides), parks, rail links and service areas. Although it was only partially carried out, it inspired the urbanism of Barcelona for much of the century.

Noucentisme
Noucentisme was an attempt to renew Catalan culture by bringing it closer to the innovations produced in the newly opened twentieth century, in parallel to a political ideology of the claim of Catalanism advocated by Enric Prat de la Riba. The main theoretician of the movement was Eugeni d’Ors, who from the newspaper La Veu de Catalunya wrote a series of articles highlighting the work of the young Catalan artists of the beginning of the century. The first of them, published in 1906, marked the beginning of the Noucentisme, coexisting for some years with the latest Modernist works, which would last practically until the 1940s, parallel to the emergence of new currents such as rationalism in the 1930s.

Contrary to the Nordic and medieval values defended by modernism, the Noucentisme returned to the Mediterranean world, to the Greco-Latin classical culture. They also relied on the Renaissance classicism, with special influence by Filippo Brunelleschi, at the same time that his sober and purified meaning of the approaches approached the rationalist architecture that began to emerge in Europe. They were also inspired by other styles of the past, but separated from medievalism that had been used by the Modernists, such as the Baroque. On the other hand, the most academicist movement of this movement practiced an eclectic monumentalism influenced by the Beaux Arts style, with a special reference in the French and English architectures, as well as the American School of Chicago.

Within the Noucentisme, several currents are perceived: a “Gaudinian” noucentisme, practiced by Gaudí’s disciples, such as Joan Rubió or Cèsar Martinell; a neo-bourgeois Noucentisme, inspired by the Renaissance Florentine architecture and, especially, Brunelleschi, developed by Josep Goday or Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí; a “protorationalist” nineteenth-century, more influenced by international trends, which unites functionalism with Art Deco ornamentation, and has exponents such as the brothers Ramon and Antoni Puig i Gairalt, Ramon Reventós, Francesc Folguera, Raimon Duran and Reynals and Jaume Mestres Pits; an “eclectic” nineteenth-century, versatile language and monumentalist tendency, exemplified by Enric Sagnier, Josep Maria Pericas and Eduard Ferrés; and an “academic” nineteenth-century, which follows a traditional classicist line that will survive in post-war architecture, with representatives such as Francesc Nebot, Eusebi Bona, Adolf Florensa and Eugenio Pere Cendoya.

The first stream was represented by Joan Rubió and Cèsar Martinell, both Gaudí’s disciples. Rubió evolved from modernism, style in which he performed his best works, as has been seen in the previous section, until it culminated in a baroque classicism of air; His best production in this period was the reform of the Industrial School (1927-1931). Martinell kept the modernist forms alive, especially for the use of brick and tile, as is indicated in its main specialty, agrarian architecture, with a set of wineries spread throughout Catalonia that have been called “cathedrals of wine »; In Barcelona its production was scarce, although the Clínica Durán (1924), the Benavent 11 street building (1928) or the Masllorens factory (1929-1930) can be mentioned.

In the Brunelleschi current, Josep Goday and Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí emphasized. The first recovered classic forms such as pediments and pilasters, combined with a Baroque resource such as the technique of sgraffito, as is apparent in works such as the Post and Telegraph building (1914-1927), a classical style packed with great monumentality; and in numerous public schools promoted by the Barcelona City Council: Ramon Llull (1919-1923), Lluís Vives (1919), Baixeras (1917-1920), Pere Vila (1921-1930), Milà i Fontanals (1930), Collaso i Gil (1932). Rubió i Tudurí dedicated himself especially to landscape architecture: director of Parks and Gardens of Barcelona between 1917 and 1937, was the main promoter of the “Mediterranean garden”, which is denoted in his works such as the gardens of La Tamarita (1918), the Plaça Francesc Macià (1925), the Parc del Font del Racó (1926), the gardens of the Palau Reial de Pedralbes (1927), those of Salvador Espriu (1929) and those of the Turó Park (1933). Its main building was the church of Santa Maria Reina (1922-1936), a subsidiary of the monastery of Montserrat – initially called the church of Santa Maria de Montserrat de Pedralbes -, which denotes the influence of the Pazzi Chapel Brunelleschi, as well as the Baptistery of Saint John of Florence. Other works of his, the pavilion of Ràdio Barcelona (1922-1929) and the offices of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1934), are already pre-rationalists.

The eclectic and academicist tendency followed a monumentalist line whose main exponent was Via Laietana, which was the main field of evidence of this current after its opening in 1908. Influenced by the style of Beaux Arts and the Chicago School would be the architecture that would resurface in the postwar period. His main exponents were Enric Sagnier, Josep Maria Pericas, Eduard Ferrés, Francesc Nebot, Eusebi Bona, Adolf Florensa and Eugenio Pere Cendoya. De Sagnier, analyzed in the previous section, the Barcelona Caixa de Pensions building in Via Laietana (1914-1917), the basilica of Sant Josep Oriol (1915-1931) and the Ribas Patronat (1920 – 1930). Pericas evolved from modernism to a sober classicism (Diagonal house, 1920). Eduard Ferrés maintained a postsecessionist style and was a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete, as seen in the Damians house, later The Century Stores (1913-1915), built with Lluís Homs and Agustí Mas i Sauris, where he emphasizes the Its dome of spherical skylight of expressionist influence. Francesc Nebot and Eusebi Bona were authors of the Royal Palace of Pedralbes (1919-1929), formed by a central body and two lateral wings that open in curves on the main façade, with porches of Tuscan columns and middle arches point. Alone, Nebot constructed the Cinema Coliseum (1923), a building inspired by the Paris- inspired Paris Opera; and the headquarters of the Bank of Spain in Plaça de Catalunya (1927-1928). On the other hand, Bona projected the building of La Unión and the Spanish Fénix (1927-1931), of French and American influence, which stands out for its high drum dome with a sculpture of Ganimedes Adolf Florensa was the author of Cambó house (1921-1930), the building of the General Captaincy (1926), the New building of the House of the City (1927-1933, with Joaquim Vilaseca and Antoni de Falguera), the Casal del Metge (1930), the Escola de Nàutica (1930-1933, with Joaquim Vilaseca) and the National Employment Promotion building (with Josep Goday, 1931-1936). Finally, Eugenio Cendoya was the author of the church of San Miguel de los Santos and several offices for banks, such as those of Bilbao and Vizcaya, although his main work was the Montjuic National Palace for the International Exhibition of Barcelona of 1929, with Enric Catà and Pere Domènech i Roura.

The most innovative line of the Noucentisme was the one that went towards the rationalism that began to be developed in Europe by architects such as Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It was represented mainly by Ramon and Antoni Puig i Gairalt, Ramon Reventós, Francesc Folguera, Raimon Duran and Reynals and Jaume Mestres i Fossas. Antoni Puig i Gairalt was the author of the Myrurgia factory (1928-1930), which synthesizes elements of classical Noucentisme, art deco and rationalism. His brother Ramon built the house Pidelaserra (1932), of a lush eclecticism. Ramon Reventós projected the first multi-residential set of Barcelona, the Masana house (1928), of bauhausian influence. Francesc Folguera built the Hotel Ritz (1917-1919), although his most interesting work was the Casal Sant Jordi (1928-1932), which reflects the teachings of the German magazine Moderne Bauformen, Modern but moderate architecture, bourgeois. Raimon Duran i Reynals approached rationalism in works such as the Aribau 243 apartment building (1933-1935) or the Cardenal house (1935), although in the postwar period he practiced a classical academicist. Finally, Jaume Mestres i Fossas built the Blanquerna school (1930-1933), halfway between Noucentisme and Rationalism.

From this period, architects like Ignasi Mas i Morell (David building, 1929-1931), Miquel Madorell (Teatro Tívoli, 1917-1919), Arnau Calvet (house Jorba, 1926), Francesc Guàrdia and Vial (buildings of the Tobacco Renter Company, current Tax Office, 1929), Josep Domènech i Mansana (church of Santa Teresa de l’Infant Jesús, 1932-1940), Vicenç Martorell i Otzet (Caserna del Bruc, 1928-1934) and Joan Francesc Guardiola (Can Guardiola or “Casa China”, 1929). It is also worth mentioning the construction of two railway stations: the North Station (1910-1914), the work of Demetri Ribes consisting of a reform of a previous building of 1861 by Pere Andrés and Puigdoller, consisted of two buildings that go To be united by Ribes with a structure in the form of U and covered by a large metal platform, with some modernist and secessionist influence; and the Estació de França (1925-1930), by Pedro de Muguruza, Raimon Duran i Reynals, Salvador Soteras and Pelai Martínez, with platforms covered by two large iron buildings and a classicist looking lobby, featuring three rounds of cassettes.

With regard to urban planning, the most important activity in these years was the opening of Via Laietana, which connected the Eixample with the sea, another parallel avenue was planned, as well as another perpendicular, that finally they were not executed. The result of an urban reform project by Àngel Baixeras (Internal Reform Plan of Barcelona, 1884), the works were carried out in 1908, with the aim of creating a uniform-looking avenue, Buildings are nineteenth-century, with some influence from the Chicago School. Also in the early years of the century the slope of Tibidabo was urbanized, with an ample avenue connecting Sant Gervasi Avenue with the mountain, which was occupied by town-style houses in the style of the city-garden English. For transportation a tram was installed on the avenue and a funicular to climb up the mountain, where the Tibidabo Amusement Park was located.

Rationalism
In the 1930s a strong desire to approach the European architectural vanguards arose, where rationalism was emerging, a style practiced in the center of Europe since the early 1920s by architects such as Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and JJP Oud. It was a style that combined functionality and aesthetics, giving predominance to the volume on the mass, with forms based on the rectangle and the horizontal lines, without hiding the structure of the building, with smooth walls and metal windows, without ornamental recharge. In Catalonia, the influence of international architecture was expressed in two lines: a more purist rationalism inspired by Le Corbusier, and an eclecticism that accepted other references, such as Art Deco or German Expressionism, with a special referent at the Bauhaus.

In 1930 the group GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Artists and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) emerged in Barcelona with a renewed and liberating will of Noucentista classicism, as well as the introduction of new ones in Spain international currents derived from rationalism. The GATCPAC defended the construction of scientific calculations in construction, as well as the use of new materials, such as fiberglass or uralite plates, as well as lighter materials such as glass. It was founded by Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres i Clavé, Germán Rodríguez Arias, Sixte Illescas, Cristòfol Alzamora, Ricardo de Churruca, Manuel Subiño and Pere Armengou; Later, other architects such as Antoni Bonet i Castellana, Jaume Mestres i Fossas, Francesc Fàbregas and Joan Baptista Subirana were incorporated. Lamentably, his task was truncated with the outbreak of the Civil War.

Catalan rationalism had special qualities, such as the distance from formalism, a certain expressionist tendency and a clear political ties with the Second Republic, as denoted in the creation in 1936 of the SAC (Sindicat d’Arquitectes de Catalonia), led by Torres Clavé and Fàbregas, who defended the intervention in the control of construction, collectivization of housing and the orientation of education. Torres Clave was the director of AC magazine. Documents of Contemporary Activity (1931-1937), based on avant-garde magazines such as Das Neue Frankfurt, directed by Ernst May, or L’Esprit Nouveau, by Le Corbusier and Amédée Ozenfant.

Among its members, especially Josep Lluís Sert, an architect of international renown that after the Civil War was established in the United States. He was a pupil of Le Corbusier, with whom he worked in Paris and invited him to visit the city of Barcelona in 1928, 1931 and 1932. His two main works in Barcelona in those years were the Casa Bloc (1932 -1936) and the Antituberculous Central Dispensary (1934-1938), both in collaboration with Torres Clavé and Subirana. The first is based on the Le Corbusier residential project (1922), and is a set of S-shaped houses, of long and narrow blocks with two-row metal structure, with access to housing in through covered corridors; Dispensary presents two parallel bodies arranged in the form of L, with a central garden that serves as access. Sert was the author Luis Lacasa the Pavilion of the Republic for the Paris International Exhibition of 1937, where it was exhibited for the first time Guernica by Picasso, which was rebuilt in Barcelona in 1992 by Michael Espinet, Antoni Ubach and Juan Miguel Hernández León.

In addition to Sert it is worth mentioning: Sixte Illescas (Vilaró house, 1931; residential building on Padua street 96, 1934-1935; Illescas house, 1934-1935; Masana house, 1935-1940); Germán Rodríguez Arias (Astoria building, 1933-1934; Diagonal block, 1935-1940, with Churruca; building of Via Augusta 61, 1937); Ricardo de Churruca (Barangé house, 1931-1935; Conill house, 1935, Sepu stores, 1935-1936); Pere Benavent de Barberà (building of houses of the street of Balmes 220, 1931-1932; building of the Gaudí avenue 56, 1933, house Jacinto Esteva, 1935-1940); Jaume Mestres i Fossas (Viladot house, 1930-1933; Casa Sans, 1933-1936); Joaquim Lloret i Homs (Barraquer Clinic, 1934-1940);Luis Gutiérrez Soto (Fàbregas building or Urquinaona Skyscraper, 1936-1944); Josep Soteras (Balmes street building 371 Round corner General Miter, 1935-1941; Sant Pere Round building 22 corner Trafalgar street, 1936); and Josep Maria Sagnier i Vidal (building of the street of Balmes 392-396, 1935-1942).

In the urban sphere, it is worth mentioning the Macià Plan (1932-1935), prepared by Sert and Le Corbusier, a project that provided for a functional distribution of the city with a new geometrical order, through large vertebrating axes such as Gran Vía, the Meridiana and the Paral•lel, and with a new maritime facade defined by Cartesian skyscrapers, as well as the improvement of facilities and services, the promotion of public housing and the creation of a large park and leisure center next to the Llobregat delta, the so-called Rest and Vacation City. The beginning of the Civil War truncated the project. It is also worth mentioning that in 1931 the College of Architects of Catalonia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Logroño was established, delimited in Catalonia in 1933 and in the Balearics and in 1978 only in Catalonia; this entity publishes since 1944 Cuadernos de Arquitectura magazine – since 1981, published in Catalan as Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme -.

Postwar
The beginning of the Franco dictatorship caused a break in the avant-garde integration of Catalan architecture, as the new regime opted for a more academic style. The absence of a conceptual program led to submit the work to the expertise of its author, although the prevailing ideological discourse fostered monumentalism and the aromatic nature of the achievements of the moment. In the first years of post-war, the nineteenth-century style emerged, with a marked academic component, in a neoclassical style influenced by American eclecticism and Mediterranean neo-Renaissance.

In the face of failed attempts to formulate a new regime architecture, initially visible only by the influence of the Italian and German architecture of historicist and regionalist tendencies, and due to the lack in Catalonia of official orders of the new authorities, the buildings in the city of Barcelona connected with the monumentalist nineteenth-century of the 1920s, with the survival even of some attenuated rationalism.

Among the architects and works of these years we can mention: Raimon Duran i Reynals (Santa Maria de Sants church, 1940-1965, home of Fabra & Coats, 1941-1944; houses Clip, 1949-1952; Julio Muñoz palace, 1949-1952); Eusebi Bona (Banco Español de Crédito en la Plaza Catalunya, 1940-1950; Pirelli commercial building, 1948); Francesc Nebot (residential building at Balmes street 368 round corner General Miter, 1946); Adolf Florensa (building of the Plaza Vila de Madrid, 1946); Lluís Bonet i Garí (Banco Vitalici de España, 1942-1950; National Institute of Forecasting, 1947); Francesc Mitjans (residential buildings at Carrer de Balmes 182, 1941-1948, Carrer Amigó 76, 1941-1944, and the round of General Miter 140, 1947-1949); Manuel de Solà-Morales and Rosselló (Residence of Officials, 1939-1940); Francisco Juan Barba Corsini (homes of the Passeig de la Bonanova 105-107, 1946); Joaquim Lloret i Homs (houses El Rancho Grande, 1944); Pere Benavent de Barberà (houses of Queen Victoria Street 26 and round of General Miter 55, 1946-1950); and Josep Soteras (Olivetti Factory, 1940-1953; Industrial Building, 1947; monumental source of Paseo de Gracia, 1952).

At that time numerous churches destroyed or damaged during the war were restored, while other new ones were created, most of them in a Renaissance Florentine style continuing on the line initiated by Rubió i Tudurí: the church of Saint Gervasi and Protasi and Mare of God of the Bonanova (1940-1950), of Josep Danés i Torras; church of the Capuchin convent of Sarrià (1940-1944), by Pere Benavent de Barberà; Iglesia de la Virgen de los Ángeles (1942-1957), by Josep Danés i Torras; Iglesia del Perpetuo Socors (1950), by Joaquim Porqueres i Bañeres; church of Sant Miquel dels Sants (1950-1963), by Antoni Fisas.

The years of the dictatorship were characterized by urban development, which consisted of the unburdened construction of cheap housing, largely of official protection, to absorb immigration from Spanish communities, such as Andalusia, Murcia, Extremadura or Galicia. The massive influx of immigration led to an increase in shantytowns, mainly in Montjuïc, Somorrostro, Poblenou and El Carmel, places where about 10,000 shacks were counted in the late 1960s. Although housing was protected, this did not stop speculation. Housing construction was carried out, in many cases, without prior urban planning, and using cheap materials that, over the years, would cause various problems such as aluminosis. The construction fever caused a remarkable population increase and the creation of new neighborhoods, such as El Carmel, Nou Barris, Guinardó, Vall d’Hebron, La Sagrera, El Clot or Poblenou.

The war was a stoppage in the city’s landscape projects, and in the postwar period the actions focused more on the maintenance and restoration of existing areas than on the creation of new green areas. In 1940, Lluís Riudor i Carol was the head of Parcs i Jardins, the initiator of landscaping in Catalonia. His actions were the garden of Austria – located on the Parc Güell site -, the Monterols Park, the Cervantes Park, and several interventions on the Montjuïc mountain aimed at suppressing the shantytown, a project that continued its Successor, Joaquim Casamor, with the creation of various thematic gardens, such as the Mossèn Costa i Llobera gardens, specialized in cacti and succulents, and the gardens of Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer, dedicated to aquatic, bulbous and rhizomatous plants. In his work, the gardens of the Mirador del Alcalde and the gardens of Joan Maragall, located around the Albéniz Palace, were also in Montjuïc; And, in the rest of Barcelona, the Putget park, the Guineueta and the Villa Amèlia.

XXI Century
The turn of the century did not offer a substantial change in the evolution of the city, that continued betting on the innovation and the design like projects of future, next to the use of new technologies and the commitment by the sustainability environmental Stylistically, the transition of the century has been marked again by eclecticism derived from postmodern theories, at the same time that the influence of international currents like high-tech, a style based on the high intensity use of the discharge technology, and deconstructivism, a current based on non-Euclidean geometry and antilinealism, with curved and “soft” forms of seemingly chaotic appearance. It should also be noted the progressive importance acquired by IT in architectural design, with programs such as CAD and Power Point that have replaced the old ways of developing architectural projects.

One of the most outstanding events of the new millennium was the celebration of the Universal Forum of Cultures of 2004, which allowed for new city-planning changes: the entire Besòs area recovered, until then populated with old factories in In disuse, the whole district of Poblenou was regenerated and the new Diagonal Mar district was built, while new parks and spaces for the leisure of the citizens were provided to the city. The profile of the city changed after the construction of a large skyscraper in a cylindrical manner, the Agbar Tower, as well as the W Barcelona hotel, which modified the appearance of the Port of Barcelona and, therefore, its seafront.

The Agbar Tower (2000-2005), the work of Jean Nouvel, is one of the most emblematic buildings built in the new millennium, and the skyline of Barcelona has changed significantly. High-tech style, it is 145m high and shaped like an oval cylinder, inspired by the author in the belfries of the Sagrada Familia de Gaudí. The façade has a double skin of concrete and glass, with a set of 4,000 LED devices of various colors that light up at night, creating particular effects of polychrome.

For the same dates, the new headquarters of Gas Natural (1999-2006) were built, by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, a building decomposed into four bodies: the “tower” is the highest, with the shape of composite H of two bodies of different height; the “mènsula” is a body attached to the tower that acts as access to the building; the “aircraft carrier” is a flying body that protrudes from the central tower and which brings horizontality to the layout of the set; the “cascade” is a low body of staggered facade that restores the elevation of the buildings of the surroundings. The entire building has a glazed roof, with a set of reflections between the four bodies that generate a somewhat dematerialized image of the whole.

Other buildings of these early years were: the Jaume Fuster Library (2001-2004), by Josep Llinàs, with a rhomboidal plant and a complex and winding path that interacts with an urban environment with an irregular appearance; Fort Pienc Island (2001-2003), also from Llinàs, a nursery complex, nursing home, library, civic center and market, with a complex use of volumes and open spaces; Illa de la Llum residential complex (2002-2005), by Lluís Clotet and Ignacio Paricio, with three bodies: a block of 5 floors, flanked by two towers, one of 26 floors and another of 18, resolved with aluminum panel modules that are repeated on the facade, while the whole set is based on galvanized tube pre-frames; and the rehabilitation of the Barceloneta market (2002-2007) by Josep Miàs, with an organic conception that vertebra different spaces dynamically and integratively.

The main building impulse of these years was the celebration of the Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004. The site was designed by Elías Torres and José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, of which a multipurpose esplanade of 16 ha stands out culminating in one of its ends by a large photovoltaic plate that became one of the emblems of the event. The main building was the Fòrum building (2000-2004), by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron – current headquarters of the National Museum of Natural Sciences of Catalonia-, with a low profile triangular plant with a distribution of various interior courtyards that generate clear spaces, and a facade with a rugged appearance of blue color, furrowed by several glass strips. Next to this building was the Barcelona International Convention Center (2000-2004), by Josep Lluís Mateo, with a metallic structure of irregular layout and undulating forms that conceals the supporting elements, generating a In the interior, large open spaces with flexible layout. The area of the enclosure and its adjacent areas have subsequently been used to situate various public parks, such as the Parc Lineal of Garcia Fària, Pere Joan Ravetllat and Carme Ribas; the auditorium park, by Alejandro Zaera; and the Diagonal Mar Park, by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue.

Between the constructions of the following years they deserve to stand out: the Park of Biomedical Research (2006), of Manuel Brullet and Albert de Pineda, a building of troncocónica form with revestimiento of lamas of wood; the Habitat Sky hotel (2004-2007), by Dominique Perrault, a 120-meter high skyscraper composed of two vertical bodies, one placed in flurry on the other; The hotel W Barcelona, also known as Hotel Vela- (2009), by Ricardo Bofill, a building of 99 meters in height with a sailing ship, with a glazed-wall-facade façade; the building of the headquarters of the Telecommunications Market Commission (2008-2010), by Enric Batlle and Joan Roig, with a profile of asymmetric longitudinal planimetry and a double facade of horizontal slats that offers sun protection; The Enric Ruiz-Geli building, Media-TIC (2010) has a cubic shape and is supported by coated iron beams by a translucent plastic inflatable coating that allows to distinguish the fluorescent structure of the interior of the building; Torre Diagonal ZeroZero de Telefónica (2008-2011), by Enric Massip-Bosch, of 110 m of height and rhomboid plant, with a facade of white aluminum ribbon; Disseny Hub building, the headquarters of the Barcelona Design Museum (2008-2013), by Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay, with an advanced parallelepiped shape in flurry and a metal and glass facade, The building is structured in two bodies, one of underground and another superior that it gives to the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes; and the Fira de Bellcaire or Encants Vells (2013), by Fermín Vázquez Huarte-Mendicoa, a marquee structure that covers the open-air market of Encants, made up of several modules with different inclinations to reflect the light and the surrounding landscape.

Other works of these years are: the International Center for Advanced Medicine (2004), by Lluís Alonso and Sergi Balaguer; the expansion of CosmoCaixa Barcelona (2004), of Esteve and Robert Terradas; the Hilton Diagonal Mar hotel (2005) by Òscar Tusquets; the Col legi Major Sant Jordi (2006), by Josep Lluís Mateo; the departmental building of the UPF (1996-2007), by Juan Navarro Baldeweg; the 22 @ Electrical Subcentral (2007), by Víctor Rahola and Jorge Vidal; the Mediapro building (2005-2008), by Carlos Ferrater, Patrick Genard and Xavier Martí Galí; Illa del Mar (2008) housing estate, by Adolf Martínez, Josep Lluís Martínez, Jorge Muñoz and Enrique Albin; the Can Framis Museum(2007-2009), by Jordi Badia; the set of the City of Justice of Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat (2009), by David Chipperfield and Fermín Vázquez Huarte-Mendicoa; the Suites Avenue building (2009), ofToyoo Itō; the Ocular Microsurgery Institute (2009), by Josep Llinàs; Blau Building (2009), by Antoni de Moragas, Eva Mercader Oliver and Susanna Itarte Rubió; Banco de sang (2006-2010), by Joan Sabaté Picasó, Àlex Cazurra Basté and Horacio Espeche Sotailo; Can Travi Civic Center (2008-2010), Sergi Serrat, Ginés Egea and Cristina García; GAES headquarters (2008-2010), by Jorge Mestre iIván Bercedo; the reconversion of the Las Arenas bullring in the mall (2005-2011), by Richard Rogers; the seat of Bassat (2010-2011), of Alexa Plasencia, Antonio Buendía and Albert Arraut; and the Vodafone building (2012) by Dominique Perrault.

On the other hand, the economic crisis started in 2008 has paralyzed many architectural projects, some of them emblematic, such as Torre La Sagrera, Frank Gehry, or the Spiral Tower of Zaha Hadid, ending a few years of construction at the city of great projects commissioned to internationally renowned authors.

Regarding landscaping architecture, it is worth mentioning the Nou Barris Central Park (1997-2007), Carme Fiol and Andreu Arriola, structured at various levels, which include pergolas that act as luminous panels, as well as the presence of the water, through three shady lakes; In 2007 he received the International Urban Landscape Award award at Frankfurt (Germany). Another green space of interest is the Parc del Centre del Poblenou (2008), by Jean Nouvel, divided into several thematic spaces, of avant-garde design, among which stand out:Island under the dome, a space surrounded by a water channel that houses a metallic dome surrounded by laurels; and the Well of the World, a crater formed by several earth spirals.

The urbanism of the new millennium has reinforced the structure of the polynuclear lattice driven since the 1990s, favoring the emergence of new urban centers such as the Forum, 22 @ and La Sagrera. At the moment the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes is being remodeled, an important road axis where the burial of the car traffic is planned and the recovery of the land for public use; The completion of the works is planned for 2016 or 2017.

The communications have improved with the arrival of the high speed, which unites the Catalan capital with Madrid and with Paris; the port and the Prat airport have been expanded, with the aim of turning Barcelona into the logistics center in southern Europe. The metro network has also been extended, with the extension of several lines (3 and 5), and the creation of some new ones (line 9, 10 and 11), some of them fully automated. In 2012, a reordering of the bus network was begun in orthogonal form, to create a fast transit bus network. Also planned is the construction of a new ring belt to improve communications in the metropolitan area.

Source From Wikipedia