The project is located at the end of Marina Street, one of Barcelona’s most significant urban thoroughfares—not only because it runs across the city, but also because it is home to three of the city’s few skyscrapers. This location calls for a space that connects the city to the sea with the dignity and strength it deserves.
With this premise, the project seeks to speak the language of the city: a regular, composed space that firmly connects Barcelona to the coastal chaos of the sea, the beach, and the port. The architecture and the public space it creates are, therefore, designed to rise to the occasion of this convergence: where the city meets the horizon.
However, the aim is not to create a tourist trap or overcrowded site, but rather a space where the individual’s relationship with the environment takes precedence. A place where calm and contemplation prevail, yet one that is also capable of hosting large public events when required. This duality fosters a social experience that also embraces a spiritual dimension.
Like a river, it begins subtly in the Collserola mountain and must flow decisively into the sea. The project defines an urban boundary: a regular, well-defined space where the chaos of the city and nature are left behind. A spacious, calm, and quiet place.
A large colonnaded courtyard welcomes visitors, offering a framed view of the pavilion stretching toward the horizon and, on either side, a promenade where one can stroll, take in the views, and reflect.
“What is needed once and for all is a vision of what, above all, is missing in our large cities: quiet, spacious, and expansive places for reflection; places with long porticoed walkways for days of bad weather or when the sun is too intense, where the noise of vehicles and street vendors cannot reach; where a proper sense of decorum even silences the priest’s recitation of the prayer.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
