Can Architecture Affect Positive Social Change in Port Cities?

The Barcelona Model: A Case Study of Applying Micro-scale Solutions to

Waterfront Renewal Projects

A research paper by:

Daryl Kern

Prepared for:

Judith Bing, Dr. Mark Brack and John DeFazio

ARCH 499: Barcelona Study Tour Abroad – Summer 2012

8th October, 2012

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Many port cities across the world have major crime and blight issues,

occurring due to vacancies from an industrial era where architecture, land use

and re-use was not acknowledged as or considered important. Developers and

local governments have only recently begun to realize that these fading port

areas have enormous potential. They can become interesting communities if

woven into the fabric of a city and, more importantly, executed properly. Josep

Acebillo understood this when he wrote, “All developed cities suffer from widely

similar environmental and socio-economic problems. The challenge lies in

coming up with solutions that are tailored to each context rather than just trotting

out generic solutions that tend to undermine each city’s potential and special

character.”1 It is my theory that micro-scale architecture is critical in the proper

execution of such redevelopments. It is only here, at the personal level, that we

can realize the intended use of the spaces we are attempting to create.

Architecture at this personal level must be successful or the larger planning as a

whole can be compromised.2 In order to explain my theory, this paper will

compare two of Barcelona’s most recent exposition building projects, the 1992

Olympics and the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures. Through research and

observation of these two projects, I have concluded that two things are equally

necessary in order to obtain a successful waterfront revival. Master planning that

integrates existing and new adjacent communities well, and individual solutions

1 Josep Acebillo, “Barcelona: Towards a new urban planning approach,” Spatium 2006: 57 2 For example, how successful would a sunken railway project be if there was nobody using the space above? Some would argue that a large, unoccupied green space through a city could be a great benefit. I would argue not because most likely it would be taken over by criminal activity, but even so, it should be designed as such. It should be meant to be inhabited in a certain way, so it does not unnecessarily break up the intricate fabric of the neighborhood, or city as a whole. Otherwise, why sink the railway at all?

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at the micro scale to help resolve this conflict.

In order to study the planning and architecture of the aforementioned

projects, and to argue the success and failures of each, I must first look at the

context in which they belong; that is the “Barcelona Model.” Beginning in the

1980’s, Barcelona city planners have taken an active approach to new

development and re-development. Oriol Bohigas, who was the city planner at the

time, wanted to promote a local identity for all of the neighborhoods in the city, or

in his words to “sanitize the center and monumentalize the periphery.”3 What he

meant, and what Barcelona moved toward, was selecting small sited individual

public works projects in the historic city center (so as not to greatly disturb the

fabric), while allowing larger but sustainable and lasting projects in the more

remote outlying areas of the city. They achieved this first by initiating the strictest

historical building code and protections in Europe. This idea is still being carried

out, such as in the recent 22@ project where, as Ingersoll puts it, “much care has

been given… to proceed piece by piece and avoid insensitive demolitions,

conserving the urban grain of the existing blocks, including the curious internal

divisions that sometimes followed the pre-Cerda drainage patterns.”4

Catalans are extremely proud of their architecture and design culture as a

whole, and that Gaudi, who was one of the greatest architects of all time,

constructed all of his masterpieces in the area. This pride spurned a great

interest in close government of Barcelona’s architecture and planning projects.

City planners would begin to insist that individual solutions for the spot 3 Richard Ingersoll, “The Social Integration of Art and Infrastructure in Barcelona,” Sprawltown: looking for the city on its edges (New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006) 116-121. 4 Richard Ingersoll, “The Barcelona Model,” Architecture Aug. 2004: 22.

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developments mentioned in the previous paragraph must be integrated well

within the urban fabric. A major contributor to the success of this integration is

the commitment to hold on to public space, as a way of tying the city together as

a whole. Developers are often incentivized (whether through monetary gain or

increased occupancy) to donate part of their lots for public space, integrate

technical advancements and develop infrastructure, and provide housing. As

Ingersoll wrote, “What makes the Barcelona Model different from most

postindustrial urban renewals is the commitment to maintaining partial public

ownership.”5

Leading to and upon the death of Francisco Franco, Barcelona

experienced renewed growth and a re-birth of Catalan cultural pride in all aspects

of society, especially the artistic. As Gastil observed, “With the political release

that came with the fall of Francisco Franco in 1975, Barcelona slowly

reconnected to its history and legacy of design sophistication.”6 The 1992

Olympics was an excellent opportunity to redevelop, generally, the city’s

infrastructure as a whole and, specifically, an Olympic Village and Olympic Port

in Poblenou (Catalan for new village). Located in a dilapidated portion of the

Sant Marti District, this new village assisted with the larger planning agenda by

opening the sea to Barcelona proper through Carrer de la Marina and other

extended roads. It also contributed to the main goal of connecting disparate

outlying areas of the city with the new ring roads that surround it, roads that had

5 Ingersoll Architecture 22. 6 Raymond Gastil, Barcelona: the Event and the Project (New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002) 87.

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long been in dire need. The mostly linear area along the coast consisting of

largely abandoned industrial buildings was converted into a long greenbelt,

allowing a separate district to be created, while still feeling very much part of the

city regardless of the ring road intrusion.

Micro or local solutions solve the master planning agenda at the Olympic

Village and Port. For example, the ring road in this area is sunken below grade

in order to maintain clear site lines to the Mediterranean from deeper within the

city. This is quite different from most waterfronts, which elevate roads in these

areas and allow access underneath. You can see clearly how successful this is

at the ground plane and how well the multiple elevation scales work between the

waterfront area and the city. Some of the individual architectural solutions here

may appear suspect, or possibly designed in haste, as even critic Joseph

Giovanni wrote, “The underlying achievement of the Barcelona Olympics is that

Barcelona reclaimed their neglected city by impressive works for infrastructure,

but the regret is that the architecture might have been allowed to make a more

significant contribution.”7 Still, these few fall short at best, and they are not out of

1. Raised promenade. Photo by author. 2. Promenade at La Barceloneta. Photo by author.

7 Gastil 88.

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place or ill-conceived. On the contrary, much of the architecture at the Village

and Port is prolific, including one of the area’s iconic structures, the Marina

Village shopping section with the unique and culturally fitting Ghery fish sculpture

on top (image 1). It is architecture like this in the area that creates what Majoor

identifies as local identity and strong historic and cultural connections,8 all of

which were needed for this urban plan to be successful.

Observations in person appear to reinforce this author’s original

conclusions. Areas of La

Barceloneta and the Olympic

Village, specifically where the

promenade is located, are well

integrated into their surrounding

communities and there is high

use by the public. The sense of

scale at both the micro and

macro levels is well thought out.

The promenade, as shown in

image 1, is a small break at street

level, and at the level of adjacent

buildings. It drops off

3. La Barceloneta street. Photo by author.

8 Stan Majoor, “Framing Large-Scale Projects: Barcelona Forum and the Challenge of Balancing Local and Global Needs,” Journal of Planning Education and Research Feb. 2011: 144.

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approximately fifteen feet to allow interaction underneath (restaurants, changing

rooms) and also to allow visibility of waterfront activity from further into the city.

Many of the existing buildings and urban fabric of the adjacent La Barceloneta

were kept (image 3). The promenade lowers in this residential area (image 2) as

there is no parallel road to consider, and the diagonal blocks merge nicely with

the beachfront activity. This allows for a unique middle ground, with open air

cafes and shops, between the residences and the beach.

Catalans appeared to use the ‘92 Olympics as a catapult to start enticing

international architects, who created unique design solutions like Ghery’s.

Barcelona would continue this trend during future public projects. In 1996 mayor

Pasqual Maragall I Mira promised to secure another International Exposition, in

order to build on and expand the already growing tourism industry which had

stemmed from the ’92 Olympics. Barcelona's city council, the regional

government, the Spanish National Government and UNESCO organized the

2004 Universal Forum of Cultures (Fòrum Universal de les Cultures). The site for

this exposition was to the northeast of the Olympic Port, the last waterfront area

in the line up the coast to remain almost completely untouched by the recent

redevelopment.

The urban planning design for the 2004 Forum was generally considered,

although contensious, very good by most critics at the time. The Poble Nou, La

Mina and La Catalana neighborhoods surrounding the area were all run down

and would benefit from the development at the intersection of Avinguda Diagonal

and the ring road. This was largely an industrial brownfield area that, as Majoor

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large power plant, sewage treatment plant, and incinerator.

Although the project was well recieved at first, locals began to feel angst

about the individual projects being built. Fagerstrom wrote during construction in

2003, “Barcelona continues its remarkably creative approach to architecture and

planning, but some recent developments are becoming socially contriversial.”9

Most of the controversy appears to have stemmed from individual buildings in the

area being given over to commercialization. The site, while quite run down and

in need of revitalization, was already deeply integrated into the surrounding

neighborhoods. This seems to clearly defy the Barcelona Model, as public space

is held as precious in this theory. Still, the government was in serious debt from

the ’94 Olympics and had to partner with private investors. Architect David

Mackay of the local practice Martorell Bohigas Mackay Arquitectes put it well at

4. The Forum Building. Sketch by author.

9 Christina Fagerstrom, “View from Barcelona,” The Architectural Review June 2003: 34

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the time when he said, “The developing of the Forum area is correct and in line

with the city planning since the 1860s and the days of Ildefons Cerda who laid

the famous urban Barcelona-grid. ‘However, we do question the

commercialization of the public areas and the integration of the Forum area with

the surrounding living districts. Already the price setting at Diagonal Mar shows

the shops are not intending to stay longer than to get their investments back’.”10

In order to understand how this commercialization of public space was

allowed to take place, we must look at where the plan broke away from the

Barcelona Model. The major stakeholder of the 2004 master plan was a large

triangular building designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron called the

Forum Building. This was located on a triangular site created by extending

Avinguda Diagonal to the waterfront. It is striking at first appearance, with it’s

midnight blue concrete clad skin that hovers above the ground plane. It has, in

fact, become an instantly recognizable icon of the city. It does not, however,

appear to communicate very well with the surrounding environment. In well

taken photographs the building appears quite stunning and unique. In person,

5. Forum Entrance. Photo by author. 6. Forum Building. Photo by author.

10 Fagerstrom 35.

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however, it is a dark and heavy floating island, detached from all reality of urban

life. It definitely sticks out like a sore thumb, and not necessarialy in good

fashion.

I believe that at the micro level the Forum Building appears out of place for

two reasons. First, the building is very closed off. There are public beaches just

a few yards away, yet the Forum has turned it’s back to the street in all three

directions. The looming effect of the floors above do nothing to assuage it’s

uncomfortableness, and in fact contribute enormously to it’s heavy feeling. There

are no shops, or interactive activities underneath or surrounding the building to

breathe life into the area, and allow for interaction underneath of the structure,

which one assumes is the sole purpose of lifting the entire building. Second is

that the design appears conflicted. One of its largest features is the vertically

oriented polygonal glazing slicing through the rough concrete skin (image 6).

This glazing reflects both the sky and sea, a naturalistic idea that contradicts

harshly with the building’s clearly modern design. The reflective glass allows for

no visibility of life inside, which adds to the appearance of isolation at street level.

It was my sincerest hope that some conclusions drawn about the Forum building

7. Forum Building. Photo by author. 8. Vacant - Forum Building. Photo by author.

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prior to visiting it might be proved wrong. Unfortunately, they were reinforced.

It would appear that Herzog & de Meuron designed the Forum building for

an area that was expected to facilitate high pedestrian traffic. This may explain

some reasoning for it’s structure, even if it does not it’s asthetics. There is some

saving grace for them in the theory that, should one have a place to go, crossing

underneath or around the Forum building would seem logical. Unfortunately,

there is no place to go. David Mackay’s comments about public spaces being

forfitted and the surrounding neighborhoods not being integrated11 appear quite

astute. The fact that his comments were made prior to the completion of the

9. Forum esplanade. Photo by author. 10. Solar Array. Photo by author.

11. Forum area. Photo by author. 12. Forum esplanade. Photo by author.

11 Fagerstrom 35.

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project show excellent foresight on his part. Today, almost the entire site is bare

and void of life. There are no shops. New midrise buildings border the site on

it’s western edge, and form a wall on the opposite side of the ring road. These

new buildings completely cut off older surrounding neighborhoods. Mass

stretches of concrete between the Forum building and waterfront (the esplanade)

now lay vacant. Europe’s largest urban solar array (image 10), with 10.500m2 of

surface area, is a structural beauty. Unfortunately, it is only visible from the sea

or air. It is, like most of the forum area, completely closed off from the city.

Other urban areas of the site that conform more closely to the Barcelona

Plan appear to work quite well. The power plant, sewage treatment plant, and

incenerator were all renovated and

worked extremely well into the new

CoastPark by Ábalos and Herreros.

They are uniquely successful in

creating the “observatory” intended by

the architect, and integrating the new

buildings including a recycling plant

into the design. This architecture

created, as Ábalos put it, “a collage

that could allow the use of the beach,

the salon, the mall as a public space

13. Forum esplanade. Photo by author.

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and at the same time the perception of the place as a garden, a park.”12

In observing these two waterfront projects, both through researching and

by visiting in person, there are two main lesson that were learned. While the

overall urban planning of revitalized waterfront areas is important, it is how

individual projects are percieved at the personal scale that contribute the most

toward the success or shortcoming of the master plan design. What Barcelona

did at the micro-scale for the Olympic Port, for example, may not work well at

Philadelphia’s waterfront. Ring roads (or highways) in Philadelphia were long

ago constructed and would be enormously costly to lower. Other factors, like

how carefully the interim spaces were considered and executed, and how areas

for activity were designed between the neighborhoods and waterfront, should be

looked at more closely. We must take more significant consideration of the

block, the neighborhood, and observe how it is currently being used and will be

inhabited in the future. We must not think strictly in overall broad terms about

these projects and realize that no matter how well conceptualized, poorly

designed buildings and spaces will undermine good urban planning every time.13

In this way, good architecture can help resolve urban planning issues, especially

at the waterfront, where adjacent social interaction is so vital to success.

12 Xavier Costa, “Coast Park, Forum, Barcelona,” Housing and Space (Barcelona: fundació mies van der rohe, 2010) 46. 13 DeFazio, John, “Fwd: Kern- Research Paper Proposal Barcelona's Waterfront Master Plan & Forum Building by Hertzog & de Meuron” E-mail to Daryl Kern, 25 July 2012.

Works Cited

Acebillo, Josep. "Barcelona: Towards a new urban planning approach." Spatium

2006: 55-59.

Cohn, David. "A new event, the Universal Forum of Cultures, helps Barcelona

transform an ailing district." Architectural Record June 2004: 109-114.

Print.

—. "Building Barcelona." Architectural Record August 1992: 100-109. Print.

Costa, Xavier. "Coast Park, Forum, Barcelona: Iñaki Ábalos and Sanford

Kwinter." Housing and public space. Barcelona: Fundació Mies van der

Rohe, 2010. 36-59. Print.

DeFazio, John. "Fwd: Kern- Research Paper Proposal Barcelona's Waterfront

Master Plan & Forum Building by Hertzog & de Meuron." E-mail to Daryl

Kern. 25 July 2012.

Dunnebacke, Niclas and Andy Robinson. "Barcelona plays for the Games: with

the Olympics looming, Barcelona is building on a vast scale, but what

comes after?" Blueprint (1989).

Fagerstrom, Christina. "View from Barcelona." The Architectural Review June

2003: 34-35. Print.

Gastil, Raymond. "Barcelona: The Event and the Project." Beyond the edge: New

York's new waterfront. New York, N.Y.: Princeton Architectural Press,

2002. 87-92.

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Giovanni, Joseph. "Olympic Overhaul." Progressive Architecture June 1992: 62-

69. Print.

Hoffman, Lily M., Susan M. Fainstein and Dennis R. Judd. "Barcelona: Governing

Coalitions, Visitors, and the Changing City Center." Cities and visitors:

regulating people, markets, and city space. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.,

2003. 6-8. Print.

Ingersoll, Richard. "The Barcelona Model." Architecture August 2004: 21-22.

Print.

Ingersoll, Richard. "The Social Integration of Art and Infrastructure in Barcelona."

Sprawltown: looking for the city on its edges. New York, NY: Princeton

Architectural Press, 2006. 116-121. Print.

Majoor, Stan. "Framing Large-Scale Projects: Barcelona Forum and the

Challenge of Balancing Local and Global Needs." Journal of Planning

Education and Research 31.2 (2011): 143-156. Print.

Marshall, Tim. Transforming Barcelona: the renewal of a European metropolis.

London: Routledge, 2004. Print.

Riley, Terence. On-site: new architecture in Spain. New York, NY: Museum of

Modern Art, 2005. Print.

Shusta, Chris. "BARCELONA: NEW LIFE AT THE OLD PORT." 30 January

2011. Parks, Promenades & Planning. 2010 Rotch Traveling Scholarship.

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7 July 2012. <http://urbanwaterfront.blogspot.com/2011/01/barcelona-

new-life-at-old-port.html>.

Universal Forum of Cultures. Forum Barcelona 2004, 2004. Print.