New Barcelona Public Library in 2015

By 2015 Barcelona will have the biggest library in Spain. It will be situated in the Born neighbourhood, next to the França station, on the green walkway that will connect the Ciutadella with the sea, over the Ronda Litoral ring road.

Jordi Hereu & Ángeles González-Sinde & Josep Maria Miró i Gellida

Construction of the project will get underway in early 2012 and is expected to take thirty-six months. It will cost around 37.4 million euros, which will be covered by the Ministry of Culture. The library will be built on land donated by Barcelona City Council and it will be managed by the Generalitat.

The project, headed by the architect Josep Maria Miró i Gellida, includes a glass building in three modules on different levels. It will have a total surface area of 18,000 square metres and will be located in unbeatable surroundings, due to its position on the green walkway that will connect the Arc de Triomf and the Ciutadella Park with the sea and the França station.

On opening, the library will house 200.000 volumes although it is hoped that this figure will increase to 600.000.

Barcelona projects the biggest library in Spain

Its spaces are designed to be flexible, so that the uses of all areas can change according to the timeslot.

On the terraces there will be reading zones which open outdoors. Inside the building there will be multi-use areas, a space for teenagers, another for press and magazines, one for music and film, a large children’s area, and exhibition room, a cafeteria and a number of logistical spaces for storing material, among others. The spaces will be connected by escalators.

Source: BCN.es

Three Dragons Castle

The Natural Science Museum is hosting the exhibition “The Castle of Three Dragons, from restaurant to Natural Science Museum” which takes a look back over the history and architecture of the building designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner for the 1888 Universal Exhibition. Domènech i Montaner is world-wide known for his later buildings Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, both of them on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.

This great building of unpainted brick, crowned with embattlements, known to most as the Three Dragons Castle, is an example of early Barcelona modernism. The building is was built by Domènech i Montaner in 1887. Since 1920 it has housed the Zoology Museum. It preceded the famous Amsterdam Stock Exchange by Berlage (1898) in its use of construction materials: exposed brick and undisguised iron structures. The building is also important for the history of art, because it is the site of the workshops where in the 19th century old artisan techniques in ceramics and iron-working were studied for the first time. This activity led to a resurgence in the decorative arts in Catalonia.

More inf@: Natural Science Museum website

Three Dragons Castle, Barcelona.